The Australian War Memorial in Canberra will commemorate the service and sacrifice of Adelaide resident Pilot Officer Harold William Bird at the Last Post Ceremony on Monday 13 January 2025.
"Harold Bird was born on 3 August 1915 in the Adelaide suburb of Ethelton, the son of David and Hilda Bird," Australian War Memorial Director Matt Anderson said.
"Harold attended Woodville School and went on to work as a clerk at Goldsbrough Mort and Co. He married Joyce Biddle in November 1939 and the couple settled in the Adelaide suburb of Cheltenham."
On 25 April 1942, Harold enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force and soon began training as a pilot. In March 1943, he embarked for the UK as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme and transferred to Bomber Command on 8 May 1944.
On the night of 16 June 1944, Pilot Officer Harold Bird was the pilot of a Halifax that took off from RAF Full Sutton to bomb Sterkrade in western Germany, but the aircraft failed to return to base. It was determined that Bird's Halifax had crashed in the sea off the coast of Holland and all on board had been killed.
Harold Bird was 28 years old.
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 Pilot Officer Harold William Bird 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.
HANDOUT images: www.awm.gov.au/collection/C197158
