The eternal light of valour

By Private John Wellfare

*

The Bomber Command memorial at dusk and night in Canberra. The tower represents a searchlight. The lights of the memorial operate from 6pm to 6am every day.

The Bomber Command memorial was unveiled on July 23 in Canberra in a ceremony attended by veterans and families of Australian Bomber Command units.

The memorial was designed by New Zealand sculptor Neil Dawson. The tower is 16.5m tall.

Photos by PTE John Wellfare

A SCULPTURE has been unveiled at the War Memorial in Canberra to recognise the 10,000 Australians who served with Bomber Command during World War II.

Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Geoff Shepherd was among the official guests at the ceremony on July 23, which was attended by about 2000 people, including a number of Bomber Command veterans.

The memorial, designed by New Zealand sculptor Neil Dawson, consists of a 16.5m stainless steel tower, which represents a searchlight, with the silhouette of air and ground crew at its base.

At the foot of the tower is a glass plate featuring the silhouettes of eight of the aircraft flown by Bomber Command and a paved area encircled by an engraved granite ring commemorating the crews.

Lights at the base of the memorial, which are turned on from 6pm to 6am every day, illuminate the tower and the silhouettes behind it.

Speaking at the unveiling ceremony, President of the RAAF Association and Bomber Command veteran, retired Air Commodore Geoff Michael, said the memorial was a fitting tribute to those who served with the UK-based command during the war.

“Every time you entered the European theatre, you went through a barrage of searchlights, followed almost immediately by quite heavy flak,” he said.

“The Bomber Command Memorial combines multiple structures, the open meshwork of the beam, silhouetted figures of the screen wall and detailed glass that conveys an important aspect of history, in the culture and personnel associations in the minds of the viewers.”

Of the 10,000 Australians who served in Bomber Command, 3500 died during the war. For aircrew, the odds of surviving a 30-mission tour were about 50/50.

 

.