The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (420883) Flight Sergeant George John Howard, No. 181 Squadron, Royal 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 Craig Blanch, the story for this day was on (420883) Flight Sergeant George John Howard, No. 181 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Second World War.

420883 Flight Sergeant George John Howard, No. 181 Squadron, Royal Air Force
KIA 6 June 1944
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 13 November 2014

Today we pay tribute to Flight Sergeant George John Howard, who was killed on active service with the Royal Air Force during D-Day.

The 6th of June 1944 has become an iconic event – not only in the history of the Second World War – but in the history of the Western world. On that tumultuous day, a multinational Allied force landed on the shores of Normandy. It was the first major step in the liberation of Western Europe from the tyranny of Nazism and fascism.

George John Howard was born on 2 August 1921 in Katoomba, New South Wales. The son of George and Jessie Howard, Howard worked as a clerk at the Shell Company’s Australia office before the war.

Howard enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in December 1941, and commenced basic training at Somers in Victoria. The following July he embarked for Canada, where he undertook further training as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme. He was one of almost 16,000 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who joined Royal Air Force squadrons in Britain throughout the course of the war.

Once in Britain and after further specialist training he joined No. 181 Squadron of the Royal Air Force in May 1944. This was a fighter-bomber squadron, equipped with Hawker Typhoons.

On D-Day the squadron was tasked with the dangerous job of attacking German tanks. Flying at low altitudes, there was great danger of being shot down by ground fire. It was during an operation just north of Caen that Howard’s Typhoon was brought down by enemy flak.

It was his first ever operational sortie. He was 22 years old.

Howard’s body was recovered from the wreckage and he was buried in the British Commonwealth War Cemetery at Bayeux.

In a letter to Howard’s parents, the squadron leader of No. 181 Squadron wrote that although Howard had only recently joined the squadron he had “already shown himself to be a most promising and likeable pilot”. The whole squadron, he wrote, admired “the unselfish sacrifice your son had made so far from his home in the service of freedom and in the service of the Empire”.

Howard was one of thousands of Australians who served within the British and Commonwealth forces on D-Day and throughout the Normandy campaign. On this day of days, George John Howard made the ultimate sacrifice.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 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 George John Howard, and all of those Australians – as well as our Allies and brothers in arms – who gave their lives in the hope for a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section