The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (17354) Flying Officer Vincent Gerald Berriman, No. 50 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on(17354) Flying Officer Vincent Gerald Berriman, No. 50 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Second World War.

17354 Flying Officer Vincent Gerald Berriman, No. 50 Squadron, Royal Air Force
KIA 9 April 1945
Photograph: P10949.001

Story delivered 12 July 2016

Today we pay tribute to Flying Officer Vincent Gerald Berriman, who was killed on active service with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

Vincent Berriman was born on 23 January 1920 in Perth, Western Australia. His father, also named Vincent, had served with great distinction in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War, receiving the Military Medal and Distinguished Conduct Medal for his “untiring energy, often under fire, and … [his] fine example to the men under him”. He had met his future wife, Dorothy, while in hospital in England, and the pair married in 1918. Dorothy was pregnant with their son as they journeyed to Australia in 1919.

In 1926 Vincent’s father passed away from war-related causes. He went on to attend a technical school and became an auto-electrical fitter.

On 15 July 1940 Vincent Berriman enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force. He worked in the RAAF for three years as a technician before being accepted as a member of aircrew in November 1942, and began training as a pilot. In February 1942 he wed Glen Berriman, and together they had a son, Vincent Ronald Berriman, born on 5 December 1943. Berriman had embarked for overseas service days before the birth, and never met his son.

As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, Berriman was one of almost 27,500 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who joined squadrons based in Britain throughout the course of the war. Arriving in England in January 1944, he undertook further specialist training before being posted in February 1945 to No. 50 Squadron, RAF. As part of Bomber Command, No. 50 squadron was equipped with the four-engine Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. Berriman was reported to be “held in high esteem not only by his crew, who had complete confidence in his abilities, but also by fellow officers and [had] many friends in the squadron”.

On 9 April 1945 Berriman was on his tenth sortie over enemy territory when the aircraft he was piloting failed to return from a raid on Hamburg. For months his family was left with no answers, and it was not until November that Glen Berriman was formally advised that her husband was presumed to have been killed in action during the raid.

After the war, investigations determined that Berriman’s aircraft had crashed near the German village of Wollingst and exploded on impact. The bodies of the crew were recovered by the Germans and buried nearby. Vincent Gerald Berriman was buried in in the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery in Hamburg, Germany. He was 25 years old.

Berriman’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 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 service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Flying Officer Vincent Gerald Berriman, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section