Bomber Command Annual Service Welcoming Remarks 2024

Dhawura nguna, dhawura Ngunnawal.

Yanggu ngalawiri, dhunimanyin

Ngunnawalwari dhawurawari.

Nginggada Dindi wangirali jinyiin

I pay my respects to the traditional custodians of the lands on which we meet, and to their Elders, past and present.

And, as we do every here evening, I welcome those of you who have served, those of you still serving, and the families who love and support you.

I must open by recognising the attendance here today of the veterans of Bomber Command, Dr Max Barry and Mr Bert Adams.

Gentlemen, you honour us with your very presence.

The Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia, His Excellency General, the Honourable David Hurley, and Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley;

Representing the Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Matt Thistlethwaite;

Representing the Leader of the Federal Opposition, Mr Gavin Pearce;

The representatives of the Diplomatic Corps from the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, New Zealand, Canada, the United States of America,  South Africa, The Czech Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and France;

Chief of Air Force, Air Marshal Robert Chipman and the current and former serving members of the Royal Australian Air Force;

We also acknowledge, the government representatives, patrons, presidents and members of the ex-service organisations who have joined us, as well as the family and friends of those who served in Bomber Command who are joining us here this morning.

On Friday, just over there behind you, the Memorial hosted the annual Sandakan Memorial Service, where we remembered the 2500 Australian and British men who died tragically, brutally and senselessly in the death marches across Borneo in 1945.

It was a reminder of the devil’s arithmetic; that one in three Australians who became Prisoners of War of the Japanese would not survive.

Yet we gather today because the distinction for most dangerous fate for an Australian in the Second World War fell to the men of Bomber Command, who we honour today.

More than one in three were killed; amounting to 20 per cent of all Australians combat losses in the Second World War.

On 30 March this year the Memorial held a Last Post Ceremony to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the Nuremburg raid.

Every RAAF squadron in Bomber Command participated, as did many Australian aircrew attached to British, Canadian and New Zealand Squadrons.

A so-called ‘maximum effort’ night, of the 779 bombers sent to attack 105 would not return.

The human cost amounted to 723 casualties, with 545 dead including 48 Australians.

Well before reaching the target, a Halifax from No. 640 Squadron RAF, piloted by Flying Officer James Laidlaw, a Canadian from Kamloops, British Colombia was suddenly attacked by a German night fighter.

From below, a burst of 20 millimetre cannon fire ripped through the aircraft causing catastrophic damage. Laidlaw ordered the crew to bale out as he died at the controls.

The flight engineer was also killed and the navigator, Pilot Officer Frederick Shuttle from London, was badly wounded in the back. Blocking the forward escape hatch, he could not be moved.

With the plane already going down in flames, three of the four survivors scrambled for the rear hatch. They pleaded for the bomb-aimer – Flying Officer Martin Corcoran, from Canungra in Queensland – to follow. 

Corcoran refused. He was last seen by the side of his injured navigator, refusing to leave his mate behind.

In death the Canadian, British and Australian crew are buried side by side in a row of graves at the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Berlin.

For Bomber Command, 30 March 1944 was the worst night of the war.

And as we approach this week’s 80th anniversary of the D Day landings, that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill described as “much the greatest thing we have ever attempted” we also remember the more than 3,300 Australians who were active in the D–Day landings (including 2,800 airmen, 500 sailors, and small numbers of men and women serving with the British Army).

Thirteen Australians were killed on 6 June, but the campaign lasted beyond that one day.

On 7 June, 20 Australian airmen were killed;

On 8 June another 22 died, and the losses continued until August.

In fact, more than 1,100 Australians were killed in Europe in the build-up to and during the Normandy battle (April–August 1944).

To this day, June 1944 remains the costliest month in terms of casualties in the history of the RAAF.

That is why we gather here today.

To remember and to give thanks

To you Bert and Max, and those you served with 80 years ago in Bomber Command.

Amongst our greatest and our bravest.

Lest we forget.