The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (424764) Flight Sergeant Arthur Hedley Jenkins, No. 467 Squadron, 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (424764) Flight Sergeant Arthur Hedley Jenkins, No. 467 Squadron, Second World War.

424764 Flight Sergeant Arthur Hedley Jenkins, No. 467 Squadron
Flying Battle 16 July 1944

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Arthur Hedley Jenkins.

Arthur Hedley Jenkins was born on 25 February 1924 in Ulmarra, near Grafton in New South Wales. The youngest son of William and Frances Jenkins, Arthur attended Grafton High School, played cricket and football, and later worked as a farmer.

He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 9 October 1942 at the Number 2 Recruitment Centre in Sydney and spent the next nine months training at bases across Australia, including the Number 1 Initial Training School near Melbourne, the Number 2 Wireless Air Gunners’ School at Parkes in New South Wales, and the Number 2 Bombing and Air Gunnery School at Port Pirie in South Australia.

In May 1943 he qualified as an air gunner, and on 15 June embarked at Brisbane for service in the United Kingdom, where he arrived in late July. Jenkins continued his training at the Number 27 Operational Training Unit at Lichfield, Staffordshire. While there, on 27 November 1943, he was promoted to the rank of flight sergeant. In February 1944 he moved to 51 Base at Scampton, and in May 1944 he joined RAAF No. 467 Squadron in Waddington, Lincolnshire.

No. 467 Squadron was a bomber squadron which since early 1943 had been flying Avro Lancaster heavy bombers on strategic bombing missions over Germany and occupied Europe. No. 467 Squadron flew mainly night-time bombing missions on industrial and infrastructure targets. In 1944, Jenkins and his unit supported the D-Day landings in Normandy by undertaking preparatory bombing raids, and after 6 June, by attacking strategic targets across occupied France.

Jenkins served on the Lancaster aircraft as a rear gunner. In this role he would defend the rear of the aircraft with machine gun fire. Conditions for rear gunners were difficult as they played a vital defensive role on the aircraft that required them to serve on constant high alert, and to operate in cramped, unheated turrets.

On 15 July 1944, Jenkins took off from Waddington aboard Lancaster ME851 to take part in a raid on German controlled positions in France. Two hundred and twenty two Lancasters, supported by seven Mosquito aircraft, were to fly from their bases in the United Kingdom, and upon crossing the French coast, split into two main groups to attack separate targets. Jenkins’ aircraft formed part of the group designated to attack marshalling yards at Nevers, in central France, about 200 kilometres south of Paris.

At about 3 am on the 16th of July, Jenkins’ Lancaster collided with Lancaster ME807 of RAF No. 207 Squadron in the skies above Lignières-de-Touraine, a small village on the south of the Loire River. Both aircraft burst into flames and exploded upon contact with the ground. All 15 crewmen of the two aircraft, Jenkins included, were killed in the accident. Jenkins was 20 years old.

The bodies of the 15 airmen were buried together by the local population of the French town near where they fell, and were able to be formally identified after the war. They now lie in the Lignières -de-Touraine Communal Cemetery in France. Jenkins’ grieving family left the following inscription on his grave: “God has him in our keeping, we have him in our hearts”.

His 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 Arthur Hedley Jenkins, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section