The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (430436) Pilot Officer Geoffrey Seymour Browne, No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian 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 , the story for this day was on (430436) Pilot Officer Geoffrey Seymour Browne, No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

430436 Pilot Officer Geoffrey Seymour Browne, No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
Killed in flying battle 19 March 1945
Story delivered 5 January 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Pilot Officer Geoffrey Seymour Browne.

Born in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton on 8 November 1924, Geoffrey Browne was the son of Roland and Ivy Browne.

Growing up, the young Geoffrey Browne attended Haileybury College. He had only just completed his final year at Haileybury when he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force, at the age of 18, on 23 January 1943.

Browne began training as a pilot before embarking 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.

After his arrival in Britain, Browne undertook further specialist training before he was posted to No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force.

No. 460 Squadron would become the most highly decorated Australian squadron in Bomber Command, and the squadron that suffered the highest casualties. Flying twin-engined Vickers Wellingtons medium bombers, and then the four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bomber, the
squadron lost over 1,000 men: Australian, British, Canadians, New Zealanders and South Africans. Almost 600 Australians from 460 Squadron are listed here on the Roll of Honour.

On the morning of 19 March 1945, 22 Lancasters from 460 Squadron took part in a raid on Hanau, Germany. When returning from the mission, low cloud cover reduced visibility over the home airfields of the Bomber Command squadrons in Lincolnshire, England. Browne’s Lancaster was being homed to RAF Kelstern airfield, only a few kilometres from 460 Squadron’s home at Binbrook, when it crashed into high ground while making its runway approach.

Browne and all six of his fellow Australian and British crewmates were killed. They were the Australians Flight Sergeant Llewellyn Grant, Warrant Officer George McBryde, Slight Sergeant Jack Stacey, Warrant Officer Alexander Moss, Flight Sergeant Rex Schodde, and British airman Sergeant Jack David.

Geoffrey Browne was 20 years old.

After the Australian members of the crew were recovered from the crash site, they were buried side by side in the RAF plot at Cambridge city cemetery.

The Browne family had a strong tradition of service in the Second World War. Geoffrey Browne had two cousins – Sergeant Peter Browne and Flight Lieutenant David Browne – who also served the Royal Australian Air Force in Britain. Both cousins made the ultimate sacrifice and were killed during operational flights over Germany.

Geoffrey Browne’s name is listed here 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 Pilot Officer Geoffrey Seymour Browne, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Military History Section