The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (400674) Sergeant Charles Hucker, No. 100 Squadron RAAF, Second World War.

Places
Accession Number AWM2017.1.242
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 30 August 2017
Access Open
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
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.
Description

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 Sharon Bown, the story for this day was on (400674) Sergeant Charles Hucker, No. 100 Squadron RAAF, Second World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

400674 Sergeant Charles Hucker, No. 100 Squadron RAAF
Killed 12 June 1942
Photograph: P07175.004

Story delivered 30 August 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sergeant Charles Hucker.

Charles Hucker was born in 1919, one of six children of William and Mary Hucker of Lake Bolac in Western Victoria. After attending Mellier School and Ballarat College, Hucker worked as a bank clerk in Ballarat, and on the family wheat property “Fairview”. As well as enjoying photography and tap dancing, Hucker displayed an active interest in flying, complementing his schooling by studying physics by correspondence in an effort to increase his chances of becoming a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force.

Hucker enlisted in the RAAF in Melbourne in October 1940, having already completed 17 hours of flying experience as a cadet pilot at Parafield in South Australia. After initial training at Somers in Victoria, under the auspices of the Empire Air Training Scheme he undertook training as an air observer at Cootamundra, bombing and air gunnery at Evans Heads, and air navigation school at Parkes.

In September 1941 he was posted to No. 31 Squadron RAF in Singapore. Operating as a torpedo bombing squadron and equipped with the slow and obsolete Vickers Vildebeest biplane, Hucker was posted as an air observer. He is likely to have flown in the unsuccessful attack against the Japanese cruiser Sendai during the Japanese invasion of Malaya which took place on 8 December 1941.

Hucker returned to Australia later in December before further Japanese attacks necessitated the evacuation of all British and Australian aircrew based in Singapore. Hucker was among the original complement of aircrew that made up the newly formed No. 100 Squadron RAAF – a bomber and maritime patrol squadron that operated Bristol Beauforts. Initially based at Richmond in New South Wales, in May 1942 the squadron moved to Mareeba in Queensland where it carried out training and anti-submarine patrols.

Hucker was one of four Australian crew members on board Beaufort T9608, which failed to return to Mareeba Airfield after an anti-submarine patrol on 12 June 1942. Despite an extensive search carried out in the days afterwards, the whereabouts of T9608 was never officially determined, and all four crew members were listed as having been accidentally killed.

Hucker’s remains were never recovered, and today his name is listed on the memorial at Rookwood Cemetery in Sydney which records the names of 750 Australian servicemen and servicewomen who lost their lives during the Second World War in the eastern and southern regions of Australia, and in adjacent waters south of 20 degrees latitude, and have no known grave.

Charles Hucker was 23 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 Sergeant Charles Hucker, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section

  • Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (400674) Sergeant Charles Hucker, No. 100 Squadron RAAF, Second World War. (video)