The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (405819) Flight Sergeant Peter Leonard Boase, 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 Tristan Rallings, the story for this day was on (405819) Flight Sergeant Peter Leonard Boase, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

405819 Flight Sergeant Peter Leonard Boase, No. 467 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
KIA 17 April 1943
No photograph in collection – family supplied

Story delivered 31 January 2016

Today we pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Peter Leonard Boase, who was killed on active service during the Second World War.

Born in Brisbane on 21 October 1922, Peter Boase was the son of Leonard Charles Boase and Ada Max Boase. Leonard Boase was a distinguished veteran of the First World War. As an officer in the Australian Imperial Force, he had been awarded the Military Cross for his actions at the battle of Messines in June 1917, and was awarded a Distinguished Service Order for his actions at Dernancourt in April 1918.

Growing up, Peter Boase attended Toowong State School and Central Practising before attending Brisbane Grammar School. He was a member of the Brisbane Grammar School cadets and a keen sportsman, enjoying football, cricket, tennis, swimming, and gymnastics. He later gained employment as an insurance clerk in Brisbane.

On 21 June 1941, aged 18, Boase enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force. He began training as an air gunner and embarked in May 1942 for overseas service. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme Boase 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.

Arriving in England, Boase undertook further specialist training before being posted to No. 467 Squadron, RAAF, as a mid-upper gunner. As part of the RAF’s Bomber Command, No. 467 was equipped with the four-engine Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

On the night of 16 April the Lancasters of No. 467 Squadron were participating in a large raid on the Skoda factory in Pilsn, now part of the Czech Republic. During this operation Boase’s Lancaster crashed –
believed to have been shot down – near Poix-de-Picardie, a small village south-west of Amiens, France.

Boase and all six crewmates – including fellow Australian and pilot Flight Sergeant Raymond Clarence Stuart, as well as a New Zealander and four Britons – were killed in the crash. Boase was 20 years old.

The bodies of the crew were recovered from the crash site and buried side by side in Poix-de-Picardie Churchyard.

The names of Flight Sergeant Peter Boase’s and Flight Sergeant Raymond Stuart are listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 Australians who died during the Second World War.
Boase’s photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Flight Sergeant Peter Leonard Boase, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the
hope of a better world.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section