The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (422464) Flight Sergeant Harold John Earl, No. 224 Squadron, RAF, 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 (422464) Flight Sergeant Harold John Earl, No. 224 Squadron, RAF, Second World War.

422464 Flight Sergeant Harold John Earl, No. 224 Squadron, RAF
Flying Battle 7 June 1944

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Harold John Earl.

Harold Earl was born on 6 November 1920, the son of Harold and Constance Earl of the Sydney suburb of Ryde. Earl attended school in Eastwood and Petersham, and after attaining qualifications in plan printing worked as a heliographer (a kind of engraver) with the Commercial Copying Company in Martin Place.

Earl enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 22 May 1942, and soon began training at bases across New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

On 6 December 1942, while still in training, he married Sheila Page in Sydney.

In March 1943 he embarked for continued training and service overseas, first in Canada as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, and then in Nassau in the Bahamas. Earl was one of thousands of Australian servicemen who trained overseas with the Empire Air Training Scheme and then joined non-Australian units as part of the wider Allied war effort. He trained as a wireless operator and air gunner, and in July 1943 sailed from the Bahamas for the United Kingdom. Once there, he was attached to No. 224 Squadron, Royal Air Force.

No. 224 Squadron was a Coastal Command Squadron, which flew Consolidated Liberator heavy bombers on anti-submarine patrols across the Atlantic Ocean. They played an important role in protecting Allied shipping. Aerial patrols were difficult work that required the men to take part in exceptionally long missions over vast tracts of open ocean, constantly on the alert for enemy attack.

Not long after joining No. 224 Squadron Earl received the news that his wife Sheila had given birth to a son, John.

Earl and his squadron took part in anti-submarine patrols in the lead-up to the D-Day landings in Normandy. Anti-submarine patrols protected Allied troops and supplies being shipped to Britain and France to support the war effort.

On 7 June 1944, one day after the D-Day landings, Earl was serving as wireless operator aboard Liberator BZ 915 on an anti-submarine sortie over the English Channel. The aircraft took off from the base at Saint Eval, Cornwall, shortly after midnight. Shortly after 2 am, Allied authorities received news from the aircraft that it was engaging the enemy near Ushant, an island off the coast of France. The aircraft, and its crew of ten Australian and British airmen, were never heard from again.

The aircraft and its crew were later officially presumed lost at sea.

Earl was 23 years old, survived by his young wife Sheila and his 7-month-old son John.

Earl’s name is listed on the Runnymede Memorial in Surrey, England, which commemorates more than 20,000 Allied airmen and airwomen who lost their lives in the Second World War and have no known grave.

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 Harold John Earl, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section