The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (402458) Pilot Officer William Frederick Collins, No. 106 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 Dennis Stockman, the story for this day was on (402458) Pilot Officer William Frederick Collins, No. 106 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Second World War.

402458 Pilot Officer William Frederick Collins, No. 106 Squadron, Royal Air Force
KIA 27 April 1944
Photograph: P04134.004

Story delivered 29 October 2016

Today we pay tribute to Pilot Officer William Frederick Collins, who was killed on active service during the Second World War.

Born in Goondiwindi, Queensland, on 6 January 1914, William Frederick Collins was the son of Harold and Elizabeth Collins. Growing up, he attended Central Technical School and Commercial High School in Brisbane. A keen sportsman, he played cricket, and participated in swimming and shooting.

Following school, Collins worked as a wood machinist. He served for five years in a machine-gun company of the Militia before enlisting in the Second Australian Imperial Force following the outbreak of the Second World War. He had two brothers who also enlisted in the AIF, both of whom served in the 9th Division.

Having been posted to the 2/9th Battalion, Collins was discharged in August 1940 in order to enlist in the Royal Australian Air Force. He began training as a wireless operator and soon embarked for overseas service, first to Canada and then Britain. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, Collins 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.

The photograph displayed today in front of the Pool of Reflection shows Collins with fellow Australian Sergeant Rex Gotts in Alberta, Canada, shortly after the pair had completed a training course. Gotts was later killed during a bombing raid on the German Baltic coast in September 1942.

After further training in England, Collins served in squadrons 9, 148, and 37, the latter of which was a bomber squadron in the RAF Middle East command. Returning to Britain he worked as an instructor at various training schools before being posted to No. 106 Squadron of the Royal Air Force in February 1942. As part of Bomber Command, the squadron flew the four-engine Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

On the night of 26 April 1944, the Lancasters of No. 106 Squadron were taking part in a raid on the German city of Schweinfurt in Bavaria. This was Collins’ 12th operational sortie with the squadron, and at some point his Lancaster was shot down and crashed in France. Collins and six of his British crewmates – including the squadron leader – were killed in the crash. One crewmate survived, and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war.

William Collins was 29 years old. The bodies were recovered from the crash site and buried side by side in the Laneuville-a-Bayard Churchyard cemetery in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France.

In a letter to Collins’s parents, the squadron commander wrote that Collins had arrived at the squadron “with a splendid reputation”:

[He] carried out his important work in a manner which was an example to us all. He possessed considerable technical knowledge and he impressed all by his quiet confidence and cheerful courage. We are all most sorry to have lost him and I can assure you that he will not be forgotten.

Collins’ name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 Australians who died while serving in 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 Pilot Officer William Frederick Collins, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section