The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (430019) Flight Sergeant Colin Henry Eastgate, No. 463 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on (430019) Flight Sergeant Colin Henry Eastgate, No. 463 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, Second World War.

430019 Flight Sergeant Colin Henry Eastgate, No. 463 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force
KIA 10 May 1944

Today we remember and pay tribute to Flight Sergeant Colin Henry Eastgate.
Colin Eastgate was born on 12 November 1914 in Coburg, Victoria, to Ernest and Myrtle Eastgate. His father was an engineer who had served as a lieutenant in the First World War with the Australian Flying Corps in France and then with the Royal Flying Corps in the United Kingdom.

Colin had two brothers – Jack and Robert – and a sister, June. He was a keen sportsman who enjoyed cricket, swimming and basketball, and he participated in AFL and tennis. As a teen he attended the Colac West State School and the Colac Agricultural High School. He passed his entrance exams for Melbourne University in 1930, but after leaving school began work as a baker’s apprentice. He went on to work as a clerk and then manager for Permewan Wright Limited.
On 13 May 1939 Eastgate married Jean Simpson, and in December the following year a son, Colin, was born to the couple.

Eastgate was working as a commission agent for the Vacuum Oil Company when he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 4 December 1942, aged 28. He underwent training as an air gunner, and in June 1943 was made sergeant.

On 4 August 1943 Eastgate embarked for overseas service from Adelaide, arriving the following month in the UK. As part of the Empire Air Training Scheme he was one of almost 27,000 RAAF pilots, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and engineers, who joined Australian and British squadrons in Britain throughout the course of the war.

Further training followed, and on 9 March 1944 Eastgate was posted to No. 463 Squadron, RAAF. In early May he and his crew were flying back from a raid on Schweinfurt when evasive action caused two of the aircraft’s engines to fail. Just before dawn a third engine died, and the crew decided to attempt a landing in the English Channel, hoping to be picked up from the water. As they crossed the enemy coastline they were joined by a guard of friendly Spitfires. But by jettisoning everything they could, they eventually made it back to English soil.

On the night of 10 May, 31 Lancaster bombers from 463 and 467 Squadrons, RAAF, departed as part of a major Royal Air Force raid from Waddington, England. Their target was the heavily defended railway yards at Lille in France. Flight Sergeant Eastgate was an air gunner of Lancaster bomber “JO-E”, one of the squadron’s few aircraft with an all-Australian crew.

Twelve Lancasters were lost on the raid, and 50 airmen were recorded as casualties of the mission. One of those killed was Flight Sergeant Colin Eastgate. His Lancaster failed to return to base and was presumed to have been shot down by enemy action. After the war it was determined that the aircraft had exploded, and the bulk of the wreckage fell onto a factory south of the target. Also on board were Flight Sergeants John Brown, George Dann, and George Jones; Pilot Officer William Lewis, Warrant Officer Lloyd McKenzie, and Flying Officer Dudley Ward.

The airmen who died in the raid were buried near where they had crashed. After the war the remains of Commonwealth servicemen buried in Europe were examined and identified where possible. Eastgate’s remains were identified by his badges of rank. He lay in a common grave at the Forest-sur-Marque Communal Cemetery, about nine kilometres east of Lille. He was reinterred there under the inscription: “Duty nobly done. Loving memories.”

Eastgate was remembered in his local district as a friend to many, being “possessed of a happy disposition”. He was sorely missed by his family and friends in Australia, who posted in memoriam notices in the newspapers after his death.

His father, already a veteran, served as a squadron leader with the Royal Australian Air Force in the South West Pacific Area. His brother Jack served with the Second Australian Imperial Force in New Guinea. Both made it safely home.
Flight Sergeant Colin Eastgate’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 others from 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 Sergeant Colin Henry Eastgate, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.


Christina Zissis
Editor, Military History Section