DEDICATION OF THE MEMORIAL PLAQUE AT
THE AUSTRALIAN WAR MEMORIAL
FOR
THE ODD BODS (UK) ASSOCIATION
14 MARCH 2020
COMMEMORATIVE ADDRESS BY PATRON
AVM Peter Scully AO RAAF (Rtd)
Acknowledgments:
General Dawson, Air Commodore Hombsch, Etc,
The Friends of the Odd Bods have given
me a great honour by inviting me to give the Commemorative address this morning: thank you.
I have been associated with the Odd
Bods Assn for 35 years and have had the great honour of being their Patron
since 1989- and now, since 1996, also of their successors, the Friends of the
Odd Bods. And thanks to a grant from the Australian War Memorial and over a 2 year period, I was able to interview
50 RAAF members who flew in Europe, 36 of whom were Odd Bods, and also
transcribed these so that these records are now available digitally for anyone
interested in reading them.
ODD BODS; The name itself brings forth many
blank looks, accompanied, at times with a few smiles. (Some
will remember that pithy comment: “The whole world is strange, excepting ye and
me…and even thee is a bit odd at times.”
Who were they and why are they being
honoured here today?
I would like to take this opportunity
to provide a short historical background.
During WW2, Britain faced attack from
the NAZI regime, mainly from the air. Britain
was able to build the necessary aircraft for its defence but they did not have
facilities to train the great numbers of aircrews needed.
An agreement between the nations of
the then Empire agreed to share that training task – known today as the Empire
Air Training Scheme. Australia trained
just on 28,000 aircrew for service in Europe -an enormous undertaking.
Just on 4,000 of these lost their
lives in combat and an additional 800 in training accidents. Over 1,000 became prisoners of war.
The agreement provided for the RAAF to
form 17 notionally Australian Squadrons for service in the European Theatre but
in addition RAAF aircrew were scattered among 214 RAAF & Canadian squadrons
- & I do mean scattered – at over 400 different locations some as far away
as Cairo & India.
But these
volunteers – and they were volunteers – once they arrived in the UK were then
completely under the control of the RAF.
Inadequate attention was paid to maintaining their unique Australian
identity. The Canadians were much
smarter, forming a separate Canadian Group.
The CAS of the day, Sir Richard Williams
commented that: “ They did not know that
most of their achievements were not recorded in Australian history.”
This was brought home to me when,
sometime ago, I was asked by the ANU to write an entry for the Australia
Dictionary of Biography for a RAAF pilot who commanded a RAF squadron of
Spitfires in the Middle East. He lost
his life just 6 months after his brother was shot down and killed over Berlin
flying with a Canadian squadron. I
searched our archives and back then his file contained just 2 folios – his
enlistment and his discharge documents – absolutely nothing about his
service. Sir Richard Williams had been
correct.
However, I must point out that
since then, considerable progress has been made to expand these records - indeed that file now has over 40 pages - although
there is much still to be done and the Australian Archives aim to compete this
task by July 2023.
Of the 36 Odd Bods I interviewed, the
archives presently show records for only 26, with only 6 of those containing any
mention of service with the RAF. This
information
is only available through the British Ministry of Defence.
How many are we talking about? Well, of the 28,000 RAAF aircrew who served
in Europe, the Odd Bods comprised significantly the greater number: Of those killed in action, 1824 were serving
in RAAF squadrons and 3089 in non-Australian squadrons. With no detailed
records of their service achievements available locally It is, then, so
appropriate that their service is now recognised here today.
My grateful thanks to those at the AWM,
especially Sara Hitchman - who have enabled this tribute to be established and
to the Friends who have effectively pursued this objective with great
enthusiasm.
What was the origin of the ODD Bods
(UK) Assn? At the conclusion of that
terrible war members who had served were all keen to gather regularly in their
old squadron groups to maintain friendships and remember those who did not
return; but those who had served in RAF squadrons –
sometimes just one RAAF member in a squadron – did not have sufficient numbers
to enable this.
George Smith was an Odd
Bod with a very creditable wartime record with 44 missions in No 180 RAF
Squadron, a Tactical Air Force squadron operating Mitchell Bombers. He barely
survived a serious aircraft crash. George
came up the concept of an Odd Bod’s Assn becoming the Association President,
long-time secretary and news-letter editor.
He even obtained the Patronage of one of the greatest WW2 airman – Group
Captain Leonard Cheshire, VC, OM, DSO &2Bars , DFC, - who commented in his
foreword to the book ‘Odd Bods at War’:-
“As 1939/45
recedes further into the past and those who lived through those fateful years diminish
in number, memoirs such as these take on an added significance. WW2 was fought on so vast a scale with such
devastating consequences, that the individual tends to be swamped and the value
of his contribution overlooked. The war demonstrated what can be achieved by
teamwork. Even in its darkest hour
Britain never stood alone. From the word go the Commonwealth was there too to
offer in ever increasing measure her resources & manpower. By 1945 almost half of Bomber Command’s
pilots came from Australia, Canada and New Zealand.”
By 1960 the Odd bods’ membership rose
to over 600, so the Odd Bods eventually became the largest WW2 ex-Service
organisation often with other RAAF squadron associations joining in Odd Bod
reunions.
As numbers of members inevitable
decreased George formally closed the Odd Bods and arranged to legally form the
‘Friends’ with the same objectives as their parent: ‘Pressing on, remembering.’thus,
preserving memories into future: a
brilliant concept and one now under a competent and enthusiastic direction of
the now President, Sqn Ldr Bruce P Waxman OAM RAAF (Rtd) and his
dedicated and enthusiastic committee& members.
The RAAF’s contribution to the War in
Europe was massive: a previous Air Force Historian declared it was
where the RAAF ‘came of age.’ These
great efforts and associated sacrifices are almost unknown to the Australian
people today. Indeed, retired Chief of
the Air Staff, Air Marshal David Evans: commented
“ …Australians are really not aware of the contribution of the RAAF during
World War II….It irks me to find that everyone knows about Gallipoli and Tobruk
and we have a PM that makes sure we know about Kokoda. But very few know about the RAAF’s contribution
– it really was quite massive.” Members
of the Odd Bods comprised the vast majority of this ‘massive’
contribution.
History such as this should not be
allowed to fade away. Perhaps it might
be helpful if the detail of this contribution could be more easily accessible
to Australians. I wonder if, as a
Centenary of the RAAF project next year, whether it might be possible to enter
into an agreement between the RAAF, our National Archives and the National
Archives UK to enable all British records of RAAF members who served in Europe
in non RAAF Squadrons to be made available for access through our archives–
those members deserve to be remembered.
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