The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (418242) Flight Sergeant David Corry Ardis, No. 467 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (418242) Flight Sergeant David Corry Ardis, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

418242 Flight Sergeant David Corry Ardis, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
KIA 24 September 1944

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant David Corry Ardis.

David Ardis was born on 3 February 1916 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to David and Catherine Ardis. He had a sister, Kathleen, and the family immigrated to Australia when David was a young man, settling in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray.

Ardis attended Hyde Street Central School and Williamstown High School. He was a good student, and enjoyed cricket, tennis, and table-tennis. Upon leaving school he studied bookkeeping and accountancy at Footscray Technical Night School, and took a correspondence course in accountancy. He found work as a clerk, and then as a bookkeeper and chief ledger-keeper.

On 21October 1939 Ardis married Mavis Bird. One and a half years layer the couple had a daughter, Pamela.

Ardis enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 15 May 1942, at the age of 26. He was trained as a navigator, and embarked from Melbourne for overseas service on 3 July 1943, arriving in Canada some weeks later. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, he was one of almost 27,000 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers, who joined Australian and British squadrons in Britain throughout the course of the war.

After months of training, Ardis received his navigator’s badge and was made a sergeant in June 1943. He left Canada that October, arriving in the UK. Further training followed, and in December he was promoted to flight sergeant.

On 18 September 1944 Ardis was posted to No. 467 Squadron, RAAF. As part of Bomber Command, the squadron flew the four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

Starting on 20 September, Bomber Command made a series of attacks against enemy-occupied defences in and around Calais on the coast of France. On the afternoon of 24 September, Ardis was the navigator of Lancaster LM636 as it set off for Calais from the squadron’s base in Waddington, England.

Bad weather meant that many of the aircraft were recalled, but this message was not received by all. Those who continued attempted to bomb the target from lower altitudes, but heavy enemy fire ensued, and No. 467 Squadron lost two aircraft to enemy fire.

Ardis’s Lancaster crash-landed at around 9 pm. On board were Australians Flying Officer Geoffrey Brown and Flight Sergeants Lindsay Giddings and John Millar, along with British airmen Flight Sergeant Norman Hainsworth and Sergeants Roy Oxborrow and W. Turnbull. Ardis, Brown, Giddings, and Hainsworth were all killed in the crash, while Oxborrow died in hospital the following day. Turnbull and Millar survived.

Ardis was buried at the Calais Canadian War Cemetery under the inscription: “His duty nobly done. Ever remembered.” He was 28 years old.

Flight Sergeant David Ardis’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 others from 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 David Corry Ardis, and all those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Christina Zissis
Editor, Military History Section