The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (435689) Flight Sergeant Lance Anthony Stegman, 163 Squadron RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Charis May, the story for this day was on (435689) Flight Sergeant Lance Anthony Stegman, 163 Squadron RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

435689 Flight Sergeant Lance Anthony Stegman, No. 163 Squadron, Royal Air Force
KIA 11 April 1945
No photograph in collection.

Story delivered 30 December 2013

Today we pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Lance Anthony Stegman, killed on active service with the Royal Air Force on 11 April 1945.

The son of Harold and Lillian Stegman, Lance Stegman was born on 6 June 1924 in Wondai, a small town in the South Burnett region of Queensland.

From 1928-37 Stegman attended the Tingoora State School, where his father was the local headmaster, and completed his secondary schooling at Brisbane Grammar School. While there, Stegman, a keen sportsman, captained the 3rds football team. He also represented South Burnett in football.

Following school, Stegman temporally worked as a bank clerk before achieving his lifelong goal of following his father into teaching.

In July 1943, at the age of 19, Stegman enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force. He began training as a navigator at the No. 2 Air Observers' School at Mt Gambier in South Australia.

As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, Stegman was one of almost 16,000 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who served with the Royal Air Force squadrons. Stegman arrived in England in June 1944, and after months of further specialist training was posted to No. 163 Squadron RAF in February 1945.

No. 163 Squadron, based at Wyton, Cambridgeshire, flew the de Havilland Mosquito light-bombers. This squadron belonged to No. 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group's Light Night Striking Force as part of Bomber Command.

Stegman teamed up with an English pilot, Flying Officer William Houghton of West Ewell, Surrey. Houghton was a highly experienced pilot who had previously completed a tour with the RAF's No. 37 Squadron, flying Wellingtons in the Middle East.

In March 1945 Houghton and Stegman flew their first operation together on a bombing raid over Kassel, Germany. Over the next month they would fly seven operations over Berlin, as well other raids at Aschaffenburg and on the Blohm & Voss shipyard at Hamburg, where U-Boats were manufactured.

On the night of 10 April 1945 the squadron flew a raid on Berlin from which Houghton and Stegman did not return. Members of the squadron reported sightings of Messerschmitt 262 jet fighters during their approach to the target and, once over Berlin, the squadron came under fire from flak. The pilots also reported many searchlights, and stated that one Mosquito was seen to be caught in multiple beams. It is believed that Stegman and Houghton's Mosquito was forced down near Stolpe, 40 miles west of Berlin, but the exact circumstances are unknown. Stegman was listed as killed in action, aged 21.

The bodies of Stegman and Houghton were recovered and buried in graves side by side at the Berlin 1939-1945 Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.

Lance Stegman was one of thousands of Australians who served within the British and Commonwealth forces in Europe during the Second World War.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with around 40,000 Australians killed in the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Flight Sergeant Lance Anthony Stegman, and all of those Australians - as well as our Allies and brothers in arms - who gave their lives in war.