Places | |
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Accession Number | AWM2017.1.166 |
Collection type | Film |
Object type | Last Post film |
Physical description | 16:9 |
Maker |
Australian War Memorial |
Place made | Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell |
Date made | 15 June 2017 |
Access | Open |
Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial![]() |
Copying Provisions | Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction. |
The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (430159) Flight Sergeant Trevor Turner Clarke, No. 460 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 Alison Creagh, the story for this day was on (430159) Flight Sergeant Trevor Turner Clarke, No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.
Film order form430159 Flight Sergeant Trevor Turner Clarke, No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
Killed in flying battle 5 March 1945
Story delivered 15 June 2017
Today we pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Trevor Clarke.
Trevor Turner Clarke was born on 10 July 1924, in Benalla, Victoria, to Trevor Turner Clarke senior and Isabella Clarke.
Growing up, Clarke junior – who was known to friends and family by his nickname, “Neb”– attended Benalla High School, then Scotch College in Melbourne.
A talented sportsman, Clarke was awarded the Harry and Keith Davies prize for proficiency in sport and study. At the age of 14 he had won the Benalla open golf tournament. He represented his school in football and tennis, and won the state under-19s doubles tennis championship.
After his final year at Scotch College, Clarke was enrolled to study law at the University of Melbourne. But before beginning university he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 1 January 1943, at the age of 18.
Following his enlistment in the RAAF, Clarke began training as a pilot. After his initial training in Australia, he left Sydney for overseas service in late November 1943.
As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, Clarke 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.
After his arrival in Britain Clarke undertook further specialist training until February 1945, when he was posted to No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force.
No. 460 Squadron would become the most highly decorated Australian squadron in Bomber Command, and was the squadron that suffered the highest casualties. Flying twin-engined Vickers Wellington medium bombers, and then four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bombers, the squadron lost over 1,000 men: Australian, British, Canadians, New Zealanders and South Africans. Almost 600 Australians from 460 Squadron are listed here on the Roll of Honour.
On the night of 5 March 1945, 21 Lancasters from 460 Squadron were taking part in a large raid targeting the industrial and rail centre of Chemnitz, Germany. During the operation, the Lancaster in which Clarke was second pilot crashed near the small village of Pfieffe, near Spangenberg in central Germany. The mayor reported that the plane had circled low with its engines on fire before crashing.
Clarke, and all seven of his crewmates – fellow Australians Squadron Leader John Holmes, Flying Officers Donald Hudspeth and Ivan Baudinette, Flight Lieutenant Thomas Morgan, and Warrant Officer Elwyn Mayne; British crewmate Sergeant John Young; and Sergeant Ralph Hayward from Newfoundland – were killed.
The bodies of the crew were recovered and buried in the Pfieffe churchyard. They were later reinterred in the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery in Hanover, Germany.
Trevor Clarke had been with the squadron for less than two weeks. He was 20 years old.
Upon his headstone reads the following epitaph chosen by his family:
His life a beautiful memory His absence Our silent sorrow
After the loss of his son Trevor Clarke senior wrote, “Life is going to be very empty without my dear Neb as he was the one and only pal I ever had.” In the 1960s he made the long journey to Germany to visit his son’s grave.
Trevor Clarke is listed here 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 Trevor Turner Clarke, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.
Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section
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Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (430159) Flight Sergeant Trevor Turner Clarke, No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War. (video)