E&OE.
Prime Minister.
My Parliamentary colleagues.
Chairman of the Australian War Memorial, Kim Beazley.
Director of the Australian War Memorial, Matt Anderson.
Vice Chief of the Defence Force, Air Marshal Robert Chipman – representing the CDF.
Chiefs of Navy, Army and Air Force; and Chiefs of Joint Capabilities and Personnel.
All those remarkable men and women serving in uniform who are here today.
RSL National President, Greg Melick.
And cherished veterans who are with us this afternoon.
And the families of veterans honouring those they cherished – especially the Pearson family, and thank you David and Chloe for being here today.
Ladies and gentlemen, one and all, good afternoon.
Let me take you back to the dying days of World War Two.
And tell you about some Australian boys – and boys they were – a Lancaster bomber crew.
At the controls was Robin Ordell.
Before the war, Robin had acted on stage and screen – and been a radio broadcaster for 2GB.
Behind his right shoulder was the Navigator – Ian Osborne – who was a student prior to enlisting.
As was Keith Reynolds – the Wireless Operator seated next to Navigator Ian.
The three Sydneysiders were joined by their fellow New South Welshman – John Killen.
A cattle farmer from Tumut, John was used to being on his feet.
But he lay prone in the nose of the aircraft as the crew’s Bomb Aimer.
With the front of the Lancaster dominated by men from New South Wales, the back of the bomber was all Victorian.
In the mid-upper turret was Kevin McKaskill – from Morwell.
In the rear turret was James Harper – from Cobden.
Only a few years earlier, Kevin worked as a grocer in Melbourne, while James was an apprentice cabinet maker in Geelong.
Manning the guns, the two Victorians had the difficult job of defending the Lancaster bomber from enemy fighters.
Completing the crew of seven was a Brit – Charles Scurr – the Flight Engineer, who sat next to his pilot and captain, Robert.
Charles’ inclusion in this Australian team made this an Allied crew in character and calling.
In peacetime, each man was unique, living very different lives.
Yet war had thrust them together with a common purpose.
Each man performed a critical role – creating a crew greater than the sum of its parts.
Their Lancaster was one of many within the Royal Air Force’s 100 Squadron within Bomber Command.
After more than five years of conflict, the Nazi war machine was on the back-foot.
The Allies were advancing on Germany from the West.
The Soviets from the East.
The fall of the Third Reich was inevitable.
As the Official Histories note:
“… the prevailing mood in February 1945 was to strain every nerve for a quick end to the war in Europe to release forces to join in the mounting successes in the Pacific against Japan.”
To that end, Bomber Command targeted German road and rail networks, communication facilities, war factories, industrial centres, and oil refineries.
The desperate and depleted Germans turned to using benzol plants as an alternative supply of motor fuel.
And so it was that Flight Lieutenant Ordell and his crew were given their next orders:
To bomb the Benzol works in Bottrop – a city in west-central Germany close to the Dutch border.
Ladies and gentlemen:
Eighty years ago today – on the 3rd of February – the brave lads undertook that mission.
Every mission was a dance with death.
Of all the Allied airmen who served in Bomber Command, 44 per cent were killed.
Indeed, of the Australians who served, more than one in three were killed.
Every bomber crewman, on every mission, in every tour of duty, prayed that contingency would never come to pass.
But it was an eventuality that every bomber crewman, on every mission, in every tour of duty had to prepare for mentally.
Flight Lieutenant Ordell and his crew took off from the east coast of England at about 4 pm.
It’s likely the crew reached their target in Germany at about 7:30 pm and dropped their bombs.
Shortly afterwards – having turned towards home – their Lancaster was suddenly hit.
Possibly by German anti-aircraft gun flak.
Possibly by an enemy fighter – piloted by the Iron Cross decorated Heinz Rökker.
It did not matter.
For the knock-out blow had been delivered.
The Lancaster bomber burst into flames and began to dive.
Tail gunner, James Harper, was able to bail out in the chaos.
He parachuted into a field.
Hid in a barn.
Was caught by German soldiers.
And spent the rest of the war in a prison – before he was liberated by the Americans.
James, it turns out, was the lucky one.
The rest of his mates did not survive the crash.
Robin Ordell and his band of flying brothers were proud to be men of the Air Force.
And yet, with the crew’s average age being just 22, they really were just boys.
Their service and sacrifice are a testament of youth’s maturity and courage in extremis.
Today, we commemorate them.
We honour them among the more than 4,000 Australians killed while serving in Bomber Command – Australians who helped win the war.
Victory in Europe came on the 8th of May 1945.
And victory in the Pacific came 99 days later – on the 15th of August 1945.
And in 2025, we mark 80 years since the end of the most catastrophic war in human history.
At each Last Post ceremony, gratitude fills our hearts for those Australians who fought evil and fell for causes good and just.
But our remembrance of them isn’t only about our gratitude for them.
Our remembrance of them reminds us of our own need for resolve.
Because today, tyrants torment.
Because today, authoritarian regimes amass arms – and assert and aggress.
Because today, the peace our forebears helped secure is being pushed towards the precipice.
From this national war memorial – our most consecrated cenotaph – the souls we commemorate reach out to us.
They experienced the horror of war to defeat evil and restore peace.
Whereas we must preserve peace by deterring evil to prevent catastrophic war.
In that duty, may we never waver in effort, energy and endeavour – spurred on by the service, the sacrifice and souls of those here commemorated.
Lest we forget.
[ends]