The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (432435) Flight Sergeant John Renton Power, 463 Squadron RAF (RAAF), 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 (432435) Flight Sergeant John Renton Power, 463 Squadron RAF (RAAF), Second World War.

432435 Flight Sergeant John Renton Power, 463 Squadron RAF (RAAF)
KIA 22 December 1944

Story delivered 29 April 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant John Renton Power.

Born in Middle Park, Melbourne, on 24 June 1920, John Power was the one of five sons born to Ernest and Mary Power. He grew up in Melbourne, attending Christian Brothers College in Middle Park and then St Kilda before going on to Christian Brothers Training College in Sydney, training to be a teacher. A keen sportsman, he represented his school in football, cricket, swimming, tennis, handball, and gymnastics.

Power enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in January 1943 and began training as an air bomber. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, Power was one of almost 27,500 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who, throughout the course of the war, joined squadrons based in Britain.

In June 1943 Power travelled to Canada, where he undertook further specialist training. In November 1943, John Power learned that his brother, who had also enlisted in the RAAF, had been killed in action over Italy while serving with No. 39 Squadron, Royal Air Force. While in Canada, Power spent some time at a ranch in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, and met with his brother Laurie, who was graduating as a pilot.

Power became engaged to a Miss D. Bullis of Lethbridge, Alberta. However, they did not get a chance to marry before Power was sent to Britain. There, Power undertook further training before he was posted to No. 463 Squadron, which flew the four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

On 22 December 1944, the Lancaster in which Power was a crewmember crashed after returning from a raid on Politz in Germany (now in the Czech Republic). The winter weather that night was atrocious, and Power’s Lancaster was one of five to crash on return.

Of Power’s crewmates, only one crew member, the upper gunner, survived the crash. Power and five of his crewmembers were killed. John Power was 24 years old.

In a ceremony a week later, on 29 December, all six crew killed in Lancaster PB 688 were buried side by side in the Royal Air Force section of the Cambridge Cemetery.

In a letter written to Power’s father, the commander of No. 463 Squadron wrote of the gratitude of all members of the squadron:
“It is men such as he who have built the magnificent traditions of the services, by their personal courage, self-sacrifice and unfaltering devotion to duty, and their memory will be perpetuated by the ultimate victory of the cause for which they gave their lives.”
Power’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 John Renton Power who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section