The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (426166) Flight Sergeant John Keith Scott, No. 9 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (426166) Flight Sergeant John Keith Scott, No. 9 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Second World War.

426166 Flight Sergeant John Keith Scott, No. 9 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Killed in flying battle 13 August 1944
Story delivered 20 December 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant John Keith Scott.

Born in Brisbane on 7 February 1923, John Keith Scott was the son of John and Elsie Scott of Beechmont, Queensland.

Growing up, the young John Scott attended Beechworth State School, before attending Brisbane Boys’ College. A keen sportsman, he played tennis and cricket, and participated in rowing.

Upon completing his schooling, Scott worked as a farm hand on his father’s dairy farm at Beechmont.

On 23 May 1942, Scott enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and began training as bomb aimer. After his initial training in Australia, Scott embarked in Melbourne on 15 April 1943 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.

Scott’s journey to Britain, took him first to Canada, where he undertook further training before embarking in Halifax in September 1943.

After arriving in Britain, Scott undertook further specialist training before he was posted to No. 9 Squadron, Royal Air Force in July 1944.

As part of the RAFs Bomber Command, No. 9 Squadron was equipped with four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bombers.

On 13 August 1944, the Lancaster in which Scott was bomb aimer was on a daylight mission to bomb the U-Boat pens, and shipping in the harbour at Brest, on the western coast of France, when it was hit by flak. Other crews reported that the aircraft had a wing tip shot off. It dived and crashed into the ground.

Scott and all of his crewmates were killed. They were the Australians – Flight Sergeant Cyril Scott, Flight Sergeant Charles Edwards, Flight Sergeant Douglas McConville, and Flight Sergeant William Andrew – and British pilot Flight Lieutenant Edward Relton, and Sergeant Frederick Johnson.

The bodies of the crew were recovered from the crash and Scott was buried alongside his crewmates in the Plougastael—Daoulas Communal Cemetery, eight kilometres from Brest in France.

John Scott was just 21 years old. He had been with the squadron for barely a month.

His name is listed here on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 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 John Keith Scott, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section