You will find the names of over 11,200 aviators on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial. Behind each name is a story of a loved one who served in our Air Force but never made it home.  

This year, as Chief of Air Force, I’ve had the great honour of visiting the war graves of some of our fallen aviators. In April, I visited the Eindhoven (Woensel) General Cemetery, in the town of Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands. It is the final resting place for a small number  of our fallen aviators from the Second World War. 

Here in Australia, on the grounds of where Defence is headquartered in Canberra, you will find a memorial to the nine Australian Defence Force members who were killed when a Navy Sea King Helicopter crashed on the island of Nias, West Sumatra in April 2005.

The memorial has enclosed ashes from the crash, of those killed, as well as their names scribed on the plaque.  Three of the ADF members killed were aviators from our Air Force: Squadron Leader Paul McCarthy, Flight Lieutenant Lynne Rowbottom and Sergeant Wendy Jones.

I remember the sinking feeling in my chest when I heard the news and my thoughts and heart went out to the grieving loved ones, family, friends and colleagues of those on ‘Shark 02’ that day. 

From the death of our earliest aviator, Australia’s George Pinnock Merz who perished alongside his New Zealand colleague, William Burn, in the desert of Mesopotamia, to our most recent aviators killed in times of peace, today we pause to remember the Australians from our Air Force who have died in service to our country. 

Their stories of sacrifice are woven into how we see ourselves today as aviators and who we aspire to be. Their stories of sacrifice remind us that peace is hard fought and won at a cost. And their stories of sacrifice, and that of their families, is our strength to remain steadfastly committed to peace and regional stability. 

We remember them. Lest we forget.