The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (422251) Flight Lieutenant Robin Ordell, No. 100 Squadron, RAF, 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (422251) Flight Lieutenant Robin Ordell, No. 100 Squadron, RAF, Second World War.

422251 Flight Lieutenant Robin Ordell, No. 100 Squadron, RAF
KIA 3 February 1945
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 20 September 2106

Today we pay tribute to Flight Lieutenant Robin Ordell, who was killed on active service with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

Born in Sydney on 16 June 1920, Robin Ordell was the son of William Raymond Ordell and Ethel May Ordell of Vaucluse, New South Wales. William Ordell, better known as “Tal”, was a well-known film and stage actor as well as a writer and artist. Following in his father’s footsteps, Robin also became an entertainer, and appeared in a stage production alongside his father when he was just six years old.

Robin Ordell was a well-known radio broadcaster and entertainer by the time he gave up his job at Radio 2GB to pursue his passion for flying. He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force at Wolloomooloo on Anzac Day 1942. Robin’s step-brother, Graham Smith, also enlisted in the RAAF, and survived the war.

During his training, Ordell continued his work as an entertainer in RAAF stage plays and revues. He trained as a pilot, and soon embarked for overseas service to Canada and then Britain. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, Ordell was one of almost 27,500 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers who joined squadrons based in Britain throughout the course of the war.

After arriving in Britain, Ordell undertook further specialist training before being posted to No. 100 Squadron, Royal Air Force. As part of the RAF’s Bomber Command, No. 100 Squadron was equipped with the four-engine Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

On the night of 3 February 1945 Ordell was taking part in a bombing raid on the Prosper Benzol Works in Germany’s industrial area. During this raid he and five of his fellow crewmates – Australians Pilot Officer Ian Osborne, Warrant Officer John Killen, Flight Sergeant Keith Reynolds, and Flight Sergeant Raymond McKaskill, and Briton Sergeant Charles Scurr – were all killed in action. The only crewmember to survive was the British tailgunner, Flight Sergeant J. Harper, who became a prisoner of war and spent the rest of the war in hospital recovering from his injuries.

Robin Ordell was 24 years old. His body and those of his crewmates were recovered and buried in the St Elizabeth Cemetery in Venraij, in the Netherlands, before being transferred to the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery at Mierlo, in Noord-Brabant.

Having conducted a number of operations, and for “displaying the utmost fortitude, courage and devotion to duty”, Ordell was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. This was presented to his father by the Governor of New South Wales in a ceremony at Government House in Sydney on 27 February 1947.

Ordell’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 others 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 Flight Lieutenant Robin Ordell, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section