The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (420731) Flying Officer Douglas Austin Woods, No. 514 Squadron, Royal 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 Chris Widenbar, the story for this day was on (420731) Flying Officer Douglas Austin Woods, No. 514 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Second World War.

420731 Flying Officer Douglas Austin Woods, No. 514 Squadron, Royal Air Force
KIA 30 June 1944

Story delivered 6 February 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flying Officer Douglas Austin Woods.

Douglas Woods was born on 16 January 1922 to Rupert and Edna Woods of Wollstonecraft, New South Wales.

After completing his education, Douglas Woods worked as a bank clerk, until, on 9 November 1941, he enlisted in in the Royal Australian Air Force and began training as a pilot.

In March 1943, Woods left Melbourne for overseas service. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, he was one of almost 16,000 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who, throughout the course of the war, joined Royal Air Force squadrons.

In Britain, Woods undertook further specialist training before being posted to No. 514 Squadron, Royal Air Force, in January 1944. A part of RAF’s Bomber Command, No. 514 Squadron flew the four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

On 30 September 1944, the Lancaster in which Woods was navigator was taking part in a bombing raid on the French village of Villers Bocage, supporting Allied ground forces fighting to break out of Normandy after the D-Day landings. When it was over the target area, the aircraft was hit by flak. It burst into flames before crashing, and Woods and all six of his British crewmates were killed.

The bodies of the crew were later recovered from the crash site and buried in a communal grave at Coulvain Churchyard.

In a letter to Woods’s parents, the commander of No. 514 Squadron wrote that the attack on Villers Bocage was one of the “many essential courageous efforts now called for by the Royal Air Force”.
Douglas Woods was 22 years old.

His name is listed here 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 Flying Officer Douglas Austin Woods, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section