Over 6,000 RAAF personnel were trained at 1 W.A.G.S Ballarat during WW2. Approximately 20% of the trainees died in action or on active service.
No. 1 Wireless Air Gunnery School [W.A.G.S] Ballarat was established on the 22nd April 1940 as part of the Empire Training Scheme. This scheme was to support RAF Bomber Command during WW2.
There were 58 Wireless Air Gunner Courses and 12 Navigator Courses conducted from 1940 to 1945.
The MEMORIAL ROLL commemorates to date 1,182 RAAF 1 W.A.G.S. trainees who were killed in action or on active service during WW2.
Fight Sergeant Dennis Leslie BAULDERSTONE 416112 .Courses 13 and 15
Flight Sergeant Baulderstone was aboard the Avro Anson AW878 when it crashed at Lady Julia Percy Island off Port Fairy, Victoria, Australia.
The aircraft had set off on a navigation sortie from its Mt Gambier base. He, together with 3 other crew members, were killed.
He was 22 years old.
The FEATURED STORY pays tribute to a person, and or event, connected to 1 W.A.G.S Ballarat.
The story commemorates the valiant RAAF 1 W.A.G.S trainees who served in WW2 in all theatres of war – those who lost their lives and those who returned.
The FEATURED STORY honours -
ANZAC DAY 2020
ANZAC Day is held on the 25th April each year to commemorate the landing at Gallipoli of Australian and New Zealand soldiers. Now known as ANZAC Cove it was the place of supreme sacrifice during WW1.
Today ANZAC Day traditionally begins with a dawn service held at various memorials followed by a march of those currently serving and veterans of past wars. It is a day of mateship, reunions and quiet reflection.
In 2020 due to the Coronavirus, social distancing meant ANZAC Day gatherings were not shoulder to shoulder but as individuals, families and neighbours at home with candles, torches and lights conducting their own dawn service.
The emotional anthem 'The Last Post' summoning us together even though we were apart.
The AFA Ballarat Branch commemorates ANZAC Day 2020.
