The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of(23549) Leading Aircraftman Norman Robert Banvill, No. 20 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, (23549) Leading Aircraftman Norman Robert Banvill, No. 20 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

23549 Leading Aircraftman Norman Robert Banvill, No. 20 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
Died prisoner of war 7 May 1942
Photograph: P00824.002

Story delivered 10 September 2017

Today we pay tribute to Leading Aircraftman Norman Robert Banvill.

Norman Banvill was born on 31 October 1921 in Maryborough, Queensland, to Walter and Jane Banvill. Walter Banvill had served in the First World War, and was wounded in France. He met Jane while recovering in Britain and the couple wed in Glasgow and returned to Australia after the war. Together they had three children, Norman, James, and Janet.

Growing up in Maryborough, Norman – known as “Normie” – attended the local school before going on to train as an electrical mechanic. He gained employment as a telephone mechanic at the General Post Office in Brisbane.
On 12 September 1940, Banvill enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and began training as a wireless operator and air gunner.

Following training, Banvill was posted to No. 20 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, which had been formed in Port Moresby and flew Catalina flying boats.

On 6 May 1942, during the battle of Coral Sea, the Catalina in which Banvill was a crew member was flying on a reconnaissance mission trying to spot the Japanese fleet and its carriers. Banvill’s Catalina – commanded by Squadron Leader Godfrey Ellard Hemsworth – reported the sighting of two enemy destroyers to the south-east of Misima Island in the Louisiade Archipelago. Immediately afterwards they signalled that they were being attacked by enemy fighters. Nothing more was heard of the Catalina, and the crew were reported missing.

After the war, a captured Japanese diary was discovered which contained information about a Japanese destroyer picking up a crew of nine airmen whose Catalina had been shot down.

The prisoners had been transferred to a transport ship which sailed to Rabaul, where it was believed the prisoners may have been dropped off before the transport ship was sunk by a submarine. While the report seemed to confirm that Banvill’s crew were captured, no records existed of Banvill’s crew alighting at Rabual. Nothing more is known of the fate of the Catalina crew. Officially, the crew was presumed to have been killed whilst prisoners of war, on, or after, 7 May 1942.

Norman Banvill was 20 years old.

His name 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 Leading Aircraftman Norman Robert Banvill, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section