The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (412815) Flight Lieutenant Thomas Ernest Victor Morgan, 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (412815) Flight Lieutenant Thomas Ernest Victor Morgan, No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

412815 Flight Lieutenant Thomas Ernest Victor Morgan, No. 460 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
Killed in flying battle 5 March 1945

Today we pay tribute to Flight Lieutenant Thomas Ernest Victor Morgan.

Thomas Morgan was born in Sydney on 21 November 1915, the son of Edwin and Lily Morgan of the beachside suburb of Coogee.

Known as “Tommy” to his friends and family, after his education, he went on to work as a salesman.

On 20 July 1941, Thomas Morgan enlisted in the RAAF. He began training as an air gunner, and after initial training in Australia, embarked 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.

Arriving in Britain, Morgan undertook further specialist training before being 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 Wellington medium bombers, and then four-engined Avro Lancaster heavy bombers, 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.

During his service with the squadron, Morgan rose to the position of gunnery leader with the rank of flight lieutenant.
On the night of 5/6 of March, 21 Lancasters from 460 Squadron were taking part in a large raid targeting the industrial and rail centre of Chemnitz, Germany. During the operation, the Lancaster in which Morgan was the air gunner crashed near the small village of Pfieffe, near Spangenberg in central Germany. The local mayor reported that the aircraft had circled low with its engines on fire before crashing.

Morgan, and all seven of his crewmates were killed: fellow Australians Squadron Leader John Holmes, Flight Sergeant Trevor Clarke, Flying Officer Donald Hudspeth, Flying Officer Ivan Baudinette, and Warrant Officer Elwyn Mayne … as well as British crewmate Sergeant John Young, and Sergeant Ralph Hayward from Newfoundland.

Thomas Morgan was 29 years old.

The bodies of all the crew were recovered and buried in the Pfieffe churchyard. They were later reinterred in the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery in Hanover, Germany, where their remains lie side-by-side today.

Upon Morgan’s headstone, the epitaph chosen by his family appears:
He died
That we might live.
Always remembered

The loss of Thomas Morgan was deeply felt throughout 460 Squadron. For his “skill and fortitude in operations against the enemy”, he was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal.

His name is 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 Flight Lieutenant Thomas Ernest Victor Morgan, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section