The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (400555) Sergeant Geoffrey Walter Fisher, No. 39 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (400555) Sergeant Geoffrey Walter Fisher, No. 39 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Second World War.

400555 Sergeant Geoffrey Walter Fisher, No. 39 Squadron, Royal Air Force
KIA 26 December 1941
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 26 December 2015

Today we pay tribute to Sergeant Geoffrey Walter Fisher, who was killed on active service with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

Born on 1 October 1919 in the inner Melbourne suburb of Burnley, Geoffrey Fisher was the son of Walter Fisher – a veteran who served with the 6th Battalion on Gallipoli – and Myrtle Fisher. One of seven children, Geoffrey had three brothers – Ken, Arthur, and Colin – and three sisters – Merle, Valerie, and Joyce. Growing up, Geoffrey attended Hamilton High School, achieving his intermediate certificate. Later he worked as a salesman.

Prior to the outbreak of the Second World War Fisher had tried twice to join the Royal Australian Air Force, and he was successful on his third attempt, enlisting in the RAAF on 15 September 1940.

Fisher began training as an air gunner, and later embarked for overseas service. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, Fisher was one of almost 16,500 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who joined Royal Air Force squadrons throughout the course of the war.

Fisher was posted to No. 39 Squadron, RAF, which was equipped with the twin-engine Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber. The squadron was part of RAF Command Middle East and conducted anti-shipping operations throughout the Mediterranean.

On 26 December 1941 the Beaufort in which Fisher was a wireless air gunner took off from its base in Egypt and was reported missing in the vicinity of Koufonisi Island near Crete. Fisher and all three of his British crewmates were declared killed.

It was reported that Fisher’s body was found washed ashore by Italian soldiers, who buried him nearby. However, by the time Imperial War Graves investigators could search for Fisher’s resting place after the war’s end his grave could not be found, and may have been washed away during heavy storms or tidal surges.

Fisher is commemorated upon the Alamein memorial, which forms the entrance to the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery at El Alamein in Egypt. He was just 22 years old.

His name is listed here on the Roll of Honour on my left, among the 40,000 other Australians who died serving 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 Sergeant Geoffrey Walter Fisher, and all of those Australians – as well as our Allies and brothers in arms – who gave their lives in the hope of a better world.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section