New memorial wall commemorates the fallen of RAAF Station Maryborough
A message from the Maryborough Military Aviation Museum Association
In September, a new Memorial Wall to 569 servicemen who died in the Second World War was officially unveiled at the former Royal Australian Air Force Station Maryborough in Queensland.
The airmen trained at the former No 3 Wireless Air Gunners’ School (3WAGS), which is now home to the Maryborough Military Aviation Museum. The Memorial Wall is preserving an important part of Australia’s wartime aviation history as a legacy to the men killed in active service, who came from all parts of Australia and trained at 3WAGS. The Memorial Wall is unique in that it is located within the actual area where the school operated during the war.
Under the Empire Air Training Scheme set up in December 1939, Maryborough was chosen as a facility for a military air base serving the RAAF for 3WAGS and other units.
Between October 1941 and December 1944, there were 29 courses provided by 3WAGS. Students arrived for a further 4 courses but it is assumed they did not complete training at Maryborough as by then 3WAGS had been transferred to 1WAGS Ballarat (and some other schools). All students had departed from Maryborough by September 1944 and 3WAGS disbanded on 15 December 1944.
The number of trainees in each course varied between 70 and more than 100. Each month, a new intake of trainees joined a course and after 24 weeks they graduated and moved to a Bombing and Gunnery School at either Evans Head (NSW), Port Pirie (SA), or Sale (Victoria) to complete the gunnery component of the course.
As Wireless Operators Air Gunners or Air Gunners, they became crew members for various Royal Air Force and RAAF squadrons, and served in all theatres of the war. Those who perished died as a result of air battles, aircraft accidents or as prisoners of war.
Hundreds of hours of research has been undertaken by volunteers (veterans themselves) to identify each of the men killed in active service. The names were cross-referenced against the DVA Nominal Roll and the National Archives of Australia.
The museum association designed the Memorial Wall with the names of those 569 souls cut into 24 steel composite panels installed along the southern boundary of the museum complex site. The project was supported by a DVA Saluting Their Service grant.
The association is in contact with a very small number of local men who were there during the Second World War and has established contact with some local families who are relatives of those who trained at 3WAGS RAAF Station Maryborough.
We are now trying to establish contact with as many relatives as possible. If you have any information, please contact David Geck at mmamsecretary [at] gmail.com (mmamsecretary[at]gmail[dot]com) or 0434 104 601, Jenny Elliott on 0447 846 317. You can also visit the Maryborough Military Aviation Museum’s Facebook page, where it commemorates the memory of each of the 569 servicemen by regularly posting their individual Roll of Honour details.
Relatives of Flight Sergeant Gerard Barbeler at the unveiling of the memorial Wall panels. FSGT Barbeler was born in Maryborough and a member of No 39 Course. He died in Germany on 16 March 1945 at the age of 22.
RAAF Station Maryborough in its heyday.