Edward Cyril's Story.
Edward Buckland was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 26th November 1924. He enlisted in the RAAF at Melbourne on 29th January 1943 aged 18 having previously been a student. He trained as a navigator in Australia then embarked on a ship at Sydney on 29th January 1944 and arrived in England on 12th March 1944. On 16th June 1944 he was posted to 4 (O) AFU at RAF West Freugh in Scotland for advanced training in Avro Ansons. On 18th July 1944 he was posted to 27 OTU at RAF Lichfield for operations training in Wellington bombers. On 18th September 1944 he was part of a five man crew in Wellington LP436 that was tasked with a night bombing exercise but 4 miles from the airfield the aircraft dived down from 6000 feet and stalled causing it to crash with the loss of all crew. The cause of the accident was never determined. Edward was 19 years old and was buried at Chester Blacon Cemetery.
Sanctuary Lamp in a church in St Kilda, Victoria