The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (419718) Flight Sergeant Alexander Harold Weston, No. 12 Squadron, Royal 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on (419718) Flight Sergeant Alexander Harold Weston, No. 12 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Second World War.

419718 Flight Sergeant Alexander Harold Weston, No. 12 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Killed in flying battle 4 March 1945
Story delivered 15 March 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Alexander Harold Weston.

Born in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood on 8 July 1922, Alexander Harold Weston was the son of Evan and Laura Weston.

Weston was living in the Melbourne suburb of Parkville and was employed as a purchasing clerk before he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force in September 1942.

The Weston family had a strong history of military service. Alex’s father, Evan Weston, had served in the 8th Light Horse Regiment during the First World War. Alex’s two brothers, Arthur and Morris, also served in the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War.

After enlisting, Weston began training as an air gunner at No. 1 Initial Training School at Somers, near Melbourne, and then at No. 1 Wireless Air Gunners School at Ballarat. Weston then embarked for overseas service.

As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, he was one of almost 27,500 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who, throughout the course of the war, joined Royal Air Force squadrons or Australian squadrons based in Britain.

Weston’s journey to Britain took him first to Canada, where he spent several months training before continuing his journey to Britain. After arriving in Britain, Weston undertook further specialist before joining No. 12 Squadron, Royal Air Force. As part of the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command, No. 12 Squadron was equipped with the four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

The crew that Weston joined in No. 12 Squadron had been with the squadron for less than a week when its Lancaster was shot down.

On the night of 3¬–4 March 1945, the Lancaster in which Weston was the tail gunner was undertaking a training flight over England when it was shot down by an enemy intruder near Stockwith, Lincolnshire.

Weston and all six of his fellow crewmates were killed. They were fellow Australians Flight Sergeant Ronald Horstmann, Flight Sergeant Walter Pridmore, Flight Sergeant George Davis, Flight Sergeant Alan Cryer and British crewmates Pilot Officer Arthur Thomas and Flight Sergeant Thomas McCaffrey.

Alexander Weston was just 22 years old.

The bodies of the crew were recovered from the crash and Weston and his Australian crewmates were buried side by side in the Royal Air Force plot at Cambridge city cemetery.

Weston’s name is listed here 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 Alexander Harold Weston, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section