The Australian War Memorial in Canberra will commemorate the service and sacrifice of Rockhampton resident Flight Sergeant Verne Edward Cockroft at the Last Post Ceremony on Monday 10 March.
"Verne was born on 23 October 1919 in Rockhampton, Queensland to Harry and Emma Cockroft," Australian War Memorial Director Matt Anderson said.
"After completing his education at Buranda State School in Brisbane, he found work as a clerk."
Aged 22, Cockroft enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 25 April 1942 and trained as a navigator.
On the night of 7 July 1944, Bomber Command launched a major raid on an abandoned quarry near Paris where German flying bombs were stored. The Lancaster heavy bomber in which Cockroft was the bomb aimer was one of 31 aircraft shot down by enemy fire on that mission. All seven crew aboard Lancaster "PO-U" were killed. Cockroft was 24 years old.
Cockroft's brother Keith, who also served in the Second World War, returned home safely.
The Last Post ceremony is held at 4.30 pm every day except Christmas Day in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial.
Each ceremony shares the story behind one of 103,000 names on the Roll of Honour. To date, the Memorial has delivered more than 3,800 ceremonies, each featuring an individual story of service from colonial to recent conflicts. It would take more than 280 years to read the story behind each of the 103,000 names listed on the Roll of Honour.
"The Last Post Ceremony is our commitment to remembering and honouring the legacy of Australian service," Mr Anderson said.
"Through our daily Last Post Ceremony, we not only acknowledge where and how these men and women died. We also tell the stories of who they were when they were alive, and of the families who loved and, in so many cases, still mourn for them.
"The Last Post is now associated with remembrance but originally it was a bugle call to sound the end of the day's activities in the military. It is a fitting way to end each day at the Memorial."
The Last Post Ceremony honouring the service of Flight Sergeant Verne Edward Cockroft will be live streamed to the Australian War Memorial's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/c/awmlastpost.
The stories told at the Last Post Ceremony are researched and written by the Memorial's military historians, who begin the process by looking at nominal rolls, attestation papers and enlistment records before building profiles that include personal milestones and military experiences.
