The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (436950) Flight Sergeant Rex Crespin Schodde, 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on (436950) Flight Sergeant Rex Crespin Schodde, No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

436950 Flight Sergeant Rex Crespin Schodde, No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
Killed in flying battle 19 March 1945

Today, we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Rex Crespin Schodde.

Born in Ararat in western Victoria on 21 December 1921, Rex Schodde was the son of Carl and Bertha Schodde.

Growing up, young Rex attended the local school and later became a farmer in Sea Lake, a small town in the Mallee region of north-western Victoria.

On 28 May 1943, Schodde enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force. While he was in the service he met Margaret Lynch of the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force. Rex and Margaret were engaged in December 1943, but Rex soon embarked on overseas service, before they had a chance to marry.

As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, Rex Schodde 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.

Schodde had been training as an air gunner. After his arrival in Britain, he undertook further training before being posted to No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force.

No. 460 Squadron would become the most highly decorated Australian squadron in Bomber Command, and the squadron that suffered the highest casualties. Flying twin-engined Vickers Wellingtons medium bombers and then the four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber, 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 morning of 19 March 1945, 22 Lancasters from 460 Squadron took part in a raid on Hanau, Germany. On their return from the mission, low cloud cover reduced visibility over the home airfields of the Bomber Command squadrons in Lincolnshire, England. The Lancaster in which Schodde was the tail gunner was being homed to RAF Kelstern airfield – only a few kilometres from 460 Squadron’s home at Binbrook – when it crashed into high ground while making its approach toward the runway.

Schodde and all six of his crewmates were killed: Pilot Officer Geoffrey Browne, Flight Sergeant Llewellyn Grant, Warrant Officer George McBryde, Flight Sergeant Jack Stacey, Warrant Officer Alexander Moss, and British airman Sergeant Jack David.

Rex Schodde was 23 years old.

The Australian members of the crew were recovered from the crash and buried side by side in the RAF plot at Cambridge city cemetery.

Rex Schodde’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 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 Rex Crespin Schodde, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section