The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (434288) Flight Sergeant William Beutel, No. 106 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 (434288) Flight Sergeant William Beutel, No. 106 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Second World War.

434288 Flight Sergeant William Beutel, No. 106 Squadron, Royal Air Force
KIA 25 June 1944
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 3 February 2015

Today we pay tribute to Flight Sergeant William Beutel, who was killed in the service of the Royal Air Force in 1944.

Born in Toowoomba, Queensland, on 3 May 1924, William Beutel was the son of Wilhelm August Beutel and Mary Beutel. Growing up in Brigalow, Queensland, Beutel attended Brigalow State School until 1938, when he went to Downlands College in Toowoomba. A keen sportsman, he enjoyed swimming and played cricket and football.

After secondary school Beutel worked as a bank clerk at the Bowen branch of the Bank of New South Wales. In September 1942, aged 18, Beutel enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force. He soon commenced training as an air gunner at Sandgate and then Maryborough in Queensland.

In August 1943 Beutel embarked from Sydney for overseas service. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, he was one of almost 27,000 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who joined Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force squadrons in Britain throughout the course of the war.

Upon arriving in Britain Beutal undertook further specialist training before eventually being posted in May 1944 to No. 106 Squadron, Royal Air Force. As part of Bomber Command, No. 106 Squadron was equipped with the four-engine Avro Lancaster heavy bomber. Beutal joined a crew of two Australians and four British airmen as the real tail gunner, and they flew five missions together.

Following the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944 the Germans launched a terror-bombing campaign on London and southern England using a new weapon, the V1 rocket or “flying bomb”. Between June and October 1944, V1 attacks on Britain resulted in the deaths of 10,000 people.

On the night of 24 June 1944 the Lancaster in which Beutel was a flying was taking part in a bombing raid on the V1 launch site at Pommeréval. It was on this mission that Beutel’s Lancaster crashed near the village of Bully, near Neufchâtel in Normandy, north-west of Rouen.

Five of the seven crewmembers were killed: three Australians, including Beutel, and two Britons. Only two crewmembers survived; they managed to bail out, and returned to Allied lines and back to Britain.

The Mayor of Bully reported that the bodies were recovered from the crashed Lancaster and buried in a nearby cemetery. Their remains were later buried in a communal grave at the British War Cemetery at St Sever on the outskirts of Rouen.

In a letter to Beutel’s parents the commander of No. 106 Squadron wrote that Beutel was:

a very reliable gunner who carried out his duties conscientiously and with courage and I know his captain had complete confidence in his ability. We are most appreciative of the motives which brought him here from Australia to help us and I can assure you that he will not be soon forgotten.”

Beutel’s name – along with the other two Australian members of his crew – is listed here on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with around some 40,000 Australians killed 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 Flight Sergeant William Beutel, and all of those Australians – as well as our Allies and brothers in arms – who gave their lives in the hope for a better world.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section