The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (409437) Flying Officer Evan Charles Patten, No. 467 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (409437) Flying Officer Evan Charles Patten, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

409437 Flying Officer Evan Charles Patten, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
Killed in flying battle 3 March 1945
Story delivered 19 December 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flying Officer Evan Charles Patten.

Born in the inner Melbourne suburb of Prahran on 15 February 1922, Evan Charles Patten was the son of John and Priscilla Patten.

The Patten family lived in the suburb of Hawthorn. Growing up, the young Evan Patten attended Box Hill High School.

Following school, Patten worked as a junior clerk before enlisting in the Royal Australian Air Force on 15 August 1941, at the age of 19.

He began training as a wireless operator and air gunner, and in August 1942 he embarked in Sydney for overseas service. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, Patten 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 arriving in Britain in November 1942, Patten underwent further specialist training . On 25 June 1943 he was posted to No. 460 Squadron. As part of the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command, No. 460 Squadron was equipped with four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bombers.

Patten served with 460 Squadron until November 1943, flying a full tour of 27 operations. He flew upon “G-for-George”, the famous Lancaster displayed here at the Australian War Memorial in Anzac Hall.
After completing his tour with 460 Squadron, Patten joined no. 27 Operational Training Unit, where he served as a wireless instructor.

During this time he met Squadron Leader Eric Page Langlois who was piecing together an experienced crew for a second tour. Patten joined, and commenced training at No. 1661 Heavy Conversion Unit.
Following completion of the course, on 13 August 1944 Patten and his crew were posted to No. 463 Squadron, an Australian heavy bomber squadron serving in Bomber Command.

Patten flew 11 operations with 463 Squadron, before he and his crew was transferred to No. 467 Squadron, RAAF, in October 1944.

On 30 December 1944, Patten married Gladys Muriel Patten of Liverpool, who he had met during his time in England.

On the night of 3/4 March 1945, Patten was flying on his seventh operation over Europe with 467 Squadron, his 45 in total, when he and four of his crewmates were killed in action.

Langlois’ Lancaster was taking part in a large raid on the Dortmund-Ems Canal at Ladbergen, Germany, when it was shot down by an enemy Messerschmidt ME 110 night fighter.

Patten, his fellow Australian crewmates, Wing Commander Langlois, Flying Officer Charles Cameron, Flying Officer Alan Reid, and British crewmate Flight Sergeant John Scott, were all killed in the incident. The two survivors, the Australians Flying Officer Joseph Willmott and Flying Officer Ray Taylor – who spent the rest of the war as prisoners of war – both reported that all of the crew managed to bail out and land safely. It is believed that the five killed were recovered and murdered by SS troops. Their place of burial is unknown.

Patten was 23 years old.

He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Today his name is commemorated upon the Air Forces Memorial overlooking the River Thames. The Runnymede memorial lists all the missing British and Commonwealth airmen with no known grave.

His name is also listed here on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 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 Evan Charles Patten, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.
Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section