The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (416501) Flying Officer Jack Pierce Hutchinson, No. 626 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 , the story for this day was on (416501) Flying Officer Jack Pierce Hutchinson, No. 626 Squadron RAF, Second World War.

416501 Flying Officer Jack Pierce Hutchinson, No. 626 Squadron RAF
KIA 25 February 1944

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flying Officer Jack Pierce Hutchinson.

Jack Hutchinson was born in Hyde Park, South Australia on 25 March 1920, the youngest child and only son of George Hutchinson, director of John Martin & Co. department stores, and his wife Ruby.

Jack grew up alongside his older sisters, Eileen and Roma, and later attended Scotch College in Adelaide. After leaving school, he learned to fly in Whyalla at the Spencer Gulf Aero Club where he was awarded his pilot’s license. By the outbreak of war Jack had moved back to Adelaide with his parents where he found employment as a fitter’s mate and a mechanic.

During 1940 and early 1941, members of Jack’s aero club joined the Royal Australian Air Force. Jack enlisted in June in Adelaide. On 15 November he was engaged to a local girl named Ena Ward.

Mustered as air crew, Jack attended various flying training schools over the next nine months before obtaining his flying badge at Point Cook, Victoria at the end of April 1942. Four months later he was attached to the Royal Air Force and embarked for overseas service. He arrived in England on 18 November.

The following month Jack was posted to No. 15 (Pilots) Advanced Flying Unit at Greenham Common in Berkshire. At the end of March 1943, he joined No. 30 Operational Training Unit, and in June he was posted to 1662 Conversion Unit, where he learned to fly heavy bombers. In July, Jack was commissioned as a pilot officer and posted to No. 12 Squadron, RAF in Lincolnshire. This experienced bomber squadron flew Avro Lancasters.

The pilots of new crews would routinely fly once with an experienced crew, and Jack’s operational service began with the Battle of Hamburg on the night of 24 July. During the remainder of 1943 as the bombing campaign intensified, Jack piloted his own Lancaster and led his own crew – a mix of British and Canadians.

On 6 September 1943 the crew took off for a night mission over Munich when trouble arose. In a letter home Jack explained:

“We took off and whilst climbing over base, the starboard engine gave up the ghost. As we had a big bomb load on I had to go out to sea and drop them before attempting to land. Had bags of bother climbing on three engines only but managed to do so eventually, and dropped the bombs.

“After we had been on the course home for about five minutes the engine suddenly burst into flame that began to spread along the wings. I had only one thing to do and that was to land in the sea at once. Well, when we hit the water the old kite broke in halves and flooded immediately.

“We had to use bags of speed to get into the dinghy in time, and so was unable to get the extra rations etc. or to send a message before we hit.

“I’m afraid poor young Paddy and Wally were both lost, we never saw them again.”

After nearly 20 hours in the water, the survivors were spotted and picked up. Jack promptly cabled his father to say he was safe, pre-empting by a week the note from the Air Board advising he was missing.

The missions continued and on 7 November 1943 Jack was posted to No. 626 Squadron, based at Wickenby. By the beginning of 1944, Jack and his crew had flown 30 operations missions over many targets, mostly in Germany. They had targeted Berlin 11 times. In February, Jack was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. The citation for his award highlighted attacks on targets such as Berlin, Milan, Munich and Peenemünde, the V-2 rocket site, as well as his skill in handling badly damaged aircraft.

Next came “Big Week”, an intense sequence of raids by American and RAF squadrons upon the German aircraft industry. On the night of 24 February 1944, No. 626 Squadron was tasked with bombing the ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt in northern Bavaria. The mission was successful, but Jack’s aircraft never came back. He and his crew were reported missing.

Jack’s last letter home arrived two months later, but by the end of the year there was still no word. In January 1945, his family was informed that he had been presumed dead.

The war ended and the years passed until closure came in November 1949.

It was reported that Karl Leplat, former mayor of Marsal, had witnessed Jack’s Lancaster approached the village at low altitude as it was attacked by a German night fighter. The bomber exploded in mid-air and debris scattered over a wide area between Marsal and the neighbouring village. Leplat found the main wreckage the next day and buried the bodies in Marsal Communal Cemetery, about 30 kilometres east of Nancy, in Lorraine.

Jack Hutchinson was 23 years old.

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 Flying Officer Jack Pierce Hutchinson, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Craig Tibbitts
Historian, Military History Section