The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (434525) Flying Officer Harry Arthur Bulger Brown, No. 166 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 Meredith Duncan, the story for this day was on (434525) Flying Officer Harry Arthur Bulger Brown, No. 166 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Second World War.

434525 Flying Officer Harry Arthur Bulger Brown, No. 166 Squadron, Royal Air Force
KIA 13 June 1944

No photograph in collection

Today we pay tribute to Flying Officer Harry Arthur Bulger Brown, who was killed on active service with the Royal Air Force in 1944.

Born in Blenheim, New Zealand, on 17 January 1917, Harry Brown was the son of Bernard and Isabel Brown. He attended St Mary’s Boys High School in Blenheim from 1929 to 1931, and Malborough College, also in Blenheim, from 1931to 1934.

After school he moved to Sydney, where he lived in Mosman and worked as a steward. On 22 December 1942 Brown enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and began training as an air gunner.

Brown embarked in September 1943 for overseas service. 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 during the course of the war.

Once in Britain, Brown undertook further training before being posted to No. 166 Squadron, Royal Air Force, in May 1944. As part of Bomber Command, No. 166 Squadron flew the four-engine Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

It was while flying operations on the night of 12/13 June 1944 that Brown was killed in action. Returning from a raid from Gelsenkirchen, the Lancaster in which Brown was a gunner crashed near Zelham in the Netherlands. All seven of the mixed Australian, New Zealand, and British crew were killed.

Brown was 27 years old. His remains are buried – side by side with his fellow crew members – in the Zelhem General Cemetery in the Bronckhorst municipality of the Netherlands.

Brown 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 some 40,000 Australians killed in the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Flying Officer Harry Arthur Bulger Brown, and all of those Australians – as well as our Allies and brothers in arms – who gave their lives for their nation.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section