The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (421159) Flight Sergeant Keith Jervis Caladine, No. 1652 Conversion Unit, RAF, 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 (421159) Flight Sergeant Keith Jervis Caladine, No. 1652 Conversion Unit, RAF, Second World War.

421159 Flight Sergeant Keith Jervis Caladine, No. 1652 Conversion Unit, RAF,
Accidental death 29 March 1944

Story delivered 29 May 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Keith Caladine.

Keith Jervis Caladine was born on 26 September 1915 in the Sydney suburb of Balmain to Ernest and Mary Caladine.

The young Caladine attended Rozelle Junior Tech and Leichhardt Junior Tech, and was involved in boxing (competing as a flyweight) and golf.

By the outbreak of the Second World War, Caladine was working as a barman at the Prince of Wales Hotel on George Street, and had recently married Nellie Hutchinson.

Keith Caladine joined the Royal Australian Air Force reserve in August 1941. He was formally accepted for service in the RAAF in January 1942, and was sent to Initial Training School.

Caladine was promoted to the rank of leading aircraftman shortly before attending Elementary Flying Training School Benalla, Victoria, and then Service Flying Training School at Point Cook. Early the following year he was promoted to temporary sergeant.

On 6 March 1943, Caladine left Melbourne bound for Britain. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, he was one of almost 27,500 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers, who, throughout the course of the war, joined Royal Air Force squadrons or Australian squadrons based in Britain.

In Britain Caladine joined number 15 Pilot Advanced Flying Unit at Leconfield before being promoted to temporary flight sergeant on 14
July 1943 and transferred to an operational training unit at Lichfield, north of Birmingham. Later in the year, he joined 1652 Conversion Unit at Marston Moor in Yorkshire.

On 29 March 1944, Flight Sergeant Caladine was captain of a Halifax – a four-engined heavy bomber – which took off from Marston Moor at about 8 pm on a bullseye sortie – a night-flying navigation exercise designed to resemble as closely as possible an operational night flight to a ground target. During the flight, the starboard outer prop blade broke away and the pilot lost control. The aircraft broke up and crashed just near Ayrshire, Scotland. All seven crew members died in the accident, including British Sergeant William Hickson, and Australian Flight Sergeants Eric Raey, Geoffrey Gooderham, Peter Sinclair, Robert Grosvenor, and Ronald Walker.

The six Australians, including Flight Sergeant Keith Caladine, were buried at Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery, Yorkshire. His epitaph reads “we hope and wait”. Caladine was 28 years old.

His 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.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Flight Sergeant Keith Jervis Caladine, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section