The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (426753) Flight Sergeant Beverley Gordon Lee, No. 514 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (426753) Flight Sergeant Beverley Gordon Lee, No. 514 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Second World War.

426753 Flight Sergeant Beverley Gordon Lee, No. 514 Squadron, Royal Air Force
KIA 30 June 1944
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 14 March 2015

Today we pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Beverley Gordon Lee, who was killed in the service of the Royal Air Force on 30 June 1944.

Born on 19 May 1913 in the town of Mareeba in the Atherton Tablelands area of Far North Queensland, Beverley Gordon Lee was the son of Albert and Maude Lee.

As a young man Lee attended the Chillagoe State School, Brisbane Boys’ Grammar School, and Cairns High School. A keen sportsman, Lee was into swimming and also played football and cricket, with a particular passion for tennis. After school Lee qualified to become a school teacher, and taught until his enlistment in the Royal Australian Air Force on 18 July 1942.

Residing in Cairns in March 1938, Lee married Madge Sylvester Earl. That September Madge gave birth to a daughter, Marjorie, and in March 1941 they had a son, named Beverley after his father.

Lee had previously served in the Militia’s 51st Battalion, and upon joining the RAAF began training as a navigator. In March 1943 he embarked 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 throughout the course of the war.

Lee spent several months undertaking further specialist training in Canada, before arriving in Britain in October 1943. He was posted to No. 514 Squadron, Royal Air Force, in May 1944. Part of RAF Bomber Command, the squadron flew the four-engine Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

On 30 September 1944 that Lee was taking part in a raid on the village of Villers-Bocage in Normandy, France, in support of the Allied ground forces. Shortly after take-off, the Lancaster in which Lee was navigator clipped the tail fin of a Lancaster from No. 14 Squadron, causing both bombers to crash near Midhurst, in Sussex, England.

As well as Lee, two British and two Canadian crewmates were killed in the crash. The two remaining Canadians in the crew survived. Lee was 31 years old.

Lee’s brother, Desmond Maurice Lee, also served in the RAAF, but was killed in England in a training accident in December 1944.

Beverley Lee’s 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 service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Flight Sergeant Beverley Gordon Lee, 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.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section