The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (425216) Pilot Officer Edward Ernest Quinlan, No. 454 Squadron, Royal Australian 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 (425216) Pilot Officer Edward Ernest Quinlan, No. 454 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

425216 Pilot Officer Edward Ernest Quinlan, No. 454 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
KIA 1 June 1944

Story delivered 13 June 2017

Today we pay tribute to Pilot Officer Edward Ernest Quinlan.

Popularly known as “Ted”, Edward Quinlan was born in Brisbane on 15 April 1915 to Edward Ernest Quinlan senior and Jane Edith Quinlan.

Before the advent of the Second World War, he worked as an article clerk and a solicitor.

In January 1942, at the age of 26, Quinlan enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and began training as a navigator. On 7 October, shortly before Quinlan embarked for overseas service, his wife Hazel gave birth to their son. Like his father and grandfather before him, he was named Ernest.

After further specialist training in Britain, Quinlan was posted to the Mediterranean, where he joined No. 454 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force.

As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, Quinlan was one of approximately 27,500 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers, who, throughout the course of the war joined squadrons in Britain.

No. 454 Squadron squadron was based in Egypt, where it was part of 201 Group of the Royal Air Force Middle East Command. Equipped with two-engined Martin Baltimore light attack bombers, it operated mostly as a maritime patrol squadron, targeting enemy submarines and shipping, as well as operating against targets in mainland Greece and the Greek islands.

On 1 June 1944, the Baltimore in which Quinlan was navigator was taking part in a raid on a German convoy that had left Piraeus Harbour
in Greece, bound for Crete. After shadowing the convoy, fighting off persistent attacks by the strong German fighter escort accompanying it, Quinlan’s plane was last seen about 50 miles north of Crete, and was presumed to have been shot down by enemy fire.

Quinlan and his three Australian crewmates – Maxwell Schultz, Max Short, and George Liels – were all killed.

Edward Quinlan was 29 years old.

His body was never recovered, and today his name is commemorated on the Alamein Memorial at the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery at El Alamein.

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 Pilot Officer Edward Ernest Quinlan, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section