Places | |
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Accession Number | AWM2021.1.1.181 |
Collection type | Film |
Object type | Last Post film |
Physical description | 16:9 |
Maker |
Australian War Memorial |
Place made | Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell |
Date made | 30 June 2021 |
Access | Open |
Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial![]() |
Copying Provisions | Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction. |
The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (419594) Flight Sergeant Keith Jacob Schott, 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 (419594) Flight Sergeant Keith Jacob Schott, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.
Film order form419594 Flight Sergeant Keith Jacob Schott, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
KIA 19 July 1944
Today we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Keith Jacob Schott.
Keith Schott was born to Charles and Bertha Schott on 18 January 1924 in the Melbourne suburb of Elwood. When Keith was five years old his father died, leaving his mother to bring up Keith and his brother Frank.
Keith was found of tennis and swimming, and played football and cricket while at Elwood Central School and Wesley College. He was a bright student, achieving a first-class pass in all subjects in his intermediate certificate. He took an intermediate accountancy exam, and after leaving school found work as a junior audit clerk with Edwin V. Nixon and Partners, chartered accountants.
Schott spent a year with the Wesley College Cadets in 1940, and served for six months in 1942 as a gunner with the 22nd Anti-Tank Battalion. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 8 September 1942, at the age of 18, going on to train as a wireless operator and air gunner.
On 3 July 1943 Schott embarked from Sydney for overseas service, arriving in the United Kingdom in August. 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.
In England, Schott underwent further specialist training. On 3 July 1944 he was posted to No. 467 Squadron, RAAF. As part of Bomber Command, the squadron flew the four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.
Just after 11 pm on the night of 18 July, No. 467 Squadron was part of a major raid on the railway junction at Revigny, France. Schott was the wireless operator and air gunner of Lancaster “PO-C”.
While the target was all but destroyed, the Luftwaffe’s defences were strong, and 24 of the 110 bombers failed to return to base. No. 467 Squadron had committed eight aircraft to the attack, and lost two, one of which was Schott’s Lancaster.
At around 2.50 am the starboard engine of Lancaster PO-C was hit by a night fighter near Brabant-le-Roi, two kilometres north of the target. The pilot ordered all to evacuate, but only three escaped before an explosion sent the aircraft plunging into a field near Bellefontaine farm. Flight Sergeant Schott, Flying Officer David Beharrie, and Flight Sergeant Frank Rogers were killed immediately. British Sergeant Eric Brownhall lived for two days in a German hospital before succumbing to his injuries.
British Sergeants John Brown and William Johnson had managed to parachute out before the explosion, and Australian Flight Sergeant Frederick White was thrown clear and landed safely. With the help of French people, all three evaded capture and made it safely back to the United Kingdom.
After the war, the remains of Commonwealth servicemen buried in Europe were examined and identified where possible. Schott’s remains were identified, and he was reinterred at Brabant-le-Roi cemetery under the inscription: “His duty nobly done. One of the best.”
Schott was dearly missed by his family and friends back in Australia, who placed in memoriam notices in the newspapers after he died. He was 20 years old.
Flight Sergeant Keith Schott’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 Keith Jacob Schott, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.
Christina Zissis
Editor, Military History Section
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Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (419594) Flight Sergeant Keith Jacob Schott, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War. (video)