The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (422300) Flight Sergeant Maurice Roantree, No. 76 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (422300) Flight Sergeant Maurice Roantree, No. 76 Squadron RAAF, Second World War.

422300 Flight Sergeant Maurice Roantree, No. 76 Squadron RAAF
KIA 23 September 1943
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 27 June 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Maurice Roantree.

Maurice Roantree was born on 6 December 1922 in Sydney to Frank and Leila Roantree. He attended the Neutral Bay Primary and Intermediate High schools, and represented New South Wales in hockey. Maurice went on to work as an office junior and at nights he studied with the Institute of Chartered Accountants, later becoming an audit clerk. He was a keen sailor, sailing ten-, 12- and 16-foot yachts in Sydney Harbour, and also went surfing and played tennis.

In April 1942 at the age of 19, Roantree enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force. He proved to be a conscientious worker and a steady pilot. Comments from his training recommended that he would make a good formation leader and a good fighter pilot. He was posted to No. 76 Squadron of the RAAF in June 1943. At this time the squadron was flying Kittyhawk fighters in operations in the Pacific region.

On 23 September 1943, Roantre was piloting a Kittyhawk in a formation of 12 to carry out a dive-bombing operation against Gasmata Island. The formation encountered no opposition on the flight from either anti-aircraft guns or enemy aircraft. However, on return it was found that Flight Sergeant Roantree and his Kittyhawk were missing.

Extensive searches were made for Roantree both during and after the war. By 1947 investigators from the RAAF discovered that, on the day of Roantree’s last flight, a white man was found on a beach near Avio Bay in New Guinea by three local Indigenous men. His single-engine aircraft had crashed into the sea, and this man had been forced to swim ashore. He spoke to the three locals, but they decided to murder him in retribution for bombing attacks on their village. As he made his way to the tree line, they speared him in the back and killed him. The body of this pilot was hidden for more than a year until one of the men became afraid of the consequences of their actions and disposed of the remains in the sea.

Investigators considered it most likely that this man was Flight Sergeant Maurice Roantree, although neither definitive evidence nor a body were ever found. He is now commemorated on the Rabaul Memorial in Papua New Guinea, and here, where his name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with around 40,000 others from the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Flight Sergeant Maurice Roantree, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.