The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (404467) Flying Officer Hector Ronald Harrison, No. 460 Squadron, 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 Robyn Siers, the story for this day was on (404467) Flying Officer Hector Ronald Harrison, No. 460 Squadron, Second World War.

404467 Flying Officer Hector Ronald Harrison, No. 460 Squadron
KIA 28 April 1944
Photograph: 081318 (detail)

Story delivered 11 March 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flying Officer Hector Ronald Harrison.

Hector Harrison was born on 17 June 1920, the eldest son of Albert and Dora Harrison of Lismore, New South Wales. He was an outstanding swimmer and won a number of competitions in the district. He was a member of the Lismore Swimming Club, and the Lismore and Ballina Lighthouse surf lifesaving clubs, representing them in the Australian championships as a junior. He was also a member of the 1st Lismore Scout Troop and the Lismore Rifle Club. When he was 16 he became a butcher and worked in that capacity for four years before enlisting in the armed forces.

Hector spent four months training with the 2/13th Battalion in 1940 before his application for the Royal Australian Air Force was accepted. He left Australia in October 1940 for Canada, where he trained under the Empire Air Training Scheme. He then went to England to complete his final operational training course. Posted to No. 162 Squadron of the British Royal Air Force, he was sent to the Middle East to fly operations against German forces there. In 1942, Harrison flew 33 operations in Egypt in a little over six months.

On 3 November 1940 he was serving as a wireless air gunner of a Wellington bomber that suffered engine failure shortly after take-off. Two Australians, a Canadian, a New Zealander, and a Welshman were killed in the accident. Harrison was the only crew member to survive and, although hospitalised for a time, was not seriously injured.

In June 1943 Harrison was promoted to flying officer and was posted to No. 460 Squadron in England to fly Lancaster bombers against Germany. He flew a number of successful operations there, and on the night of 27 April 1944 his Lancaster, of which he was wireless operator, took off to carry out bombing operations against Friedrichshafen. The aircraft never returned. There was some suggestion that Harrison had been taken prisoner, but eventually word was received from German sources via the International Red Cross Committee in Geneva that Harrison and the five other Australian members of the crew had been killed. He was officially presumed to have been killed in action on 28 April 1944, probably as the result of enemy action. After the war his body was recovered and buried in a British military cemetery in Durnbach, Germany. Hector Harrison, proudly remembered by his parents and siblings, was 23 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with around 40,000 others from the Second World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Flying Officer Hector Ronald Harrison, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.