The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (410192) Flying Officer Sydney Louis Anderson, No. 100 Squadron RAAF, 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 Sharon Bown, the story for this day was on (410192) Flying Officer Sydney Louis Anderson, No. 100 Squadron RAAF, Second World War.

410192 Flying Officer Sydney Louis Anderson, No. 100 Squadron RAAF
KIA 20 May 1944

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flying Officer Sydney Louis Anderson.

Sydney Anderson was born on 13 January 1918, the eldest son of Sydney and Adela Anderson of Melbourne. His father was a well-known wingman for the Port Melbourne Australian rules football team, playing nearly 100 games for them. Syd junior grew to be “tall and rangey” like his father, who was called “the fastest man in football in his halcyon days”.

After completing his education, Anderson worked as a clerk, but his primary interest was football. He played with South Port in the Victorian juniors for more than three years before being called up to the seniors. In a 1939 match against St Kilda, the Melbourne Demons had 11 men out with injuries, and as a result Syd Anderson was called up to the team. Melbourne gave the Saints “the father of a hiding”, with Anderson nominated the best man on the ground. He went on to “play a conspicuous part in Melbourne’s three premierships in 1930, 1940 and 1941.”
In February 1941, Anderson married Lorna Jean Waddell at Holy Trinity Church in Port Melbourne. The following December, he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and underwent a period of training at a number of different units around Australia. By September 1943, just after the birth of his daughter Patricia, he was promoted to flying officer.

In November 1943, Flying Officer Syd Anderson was posted to No. 100 Squadron of the RAAF, which was flying from bases in eastern New Guinea. Anderson undertook his first operational flight in a Beaufort bomber on 17 November 1943, and went on to record strikes against several enemy targets at Gasmata, Lindehaven, and at least two air strips.

On 20 May 1944, Flying Officer Syd Anderson was the navigator in the crew of a Beaufort bomber flying in formation with nine others against enemy targets. Arriving on target, Anderson’s aircraft began bombing and strafing independently of the others. The aircraft came under tracer fire and was seen to swerve violently, its port engine catching on fire shortly afterwards. It ditched into the sea, but all four crew members survived.

Other crews flying Beauforts in the same operation later reported seeing a dinghy emerge with two crew members in it. Another was in the water, and the fourth was standing on the starboard wing of the floating remains of their plane. Before they could be rescued, however, they came under fire from a machine-gun on the beach. Flying Officer Anderson was killed immediately; another man was shot to death, and one probably drowned shortly afterwards. Only one man, Ray Graetz, survived to be rescued after ten days in the jungle.

Syd Anderson’s body was never recovered, and today he is commemorated on the Lae Memorial in Papua New Guinea. He was 26 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 Sydney Louis Anderson, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section