Friends of the Odd Bods Association Inc.
Commemoration of Victory in Europe (VE) Day, 8 May 1945
80th Anniversary, 8 May 2025, The Sanctuary, Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne, Victoria
Occasional Adress. A tribute to the Odd Bods and all RAAF aircrew who served our nation in the European theatre of WWII.
Sqn. Ldr. Bruce Philip Waxman OAM AASMET RAAF (rtd)
Immediate Past President, Friends of the Odd Bods Association Inc.
Acknowledgement of Country
In the spirit of reconciliation,and on behalf of our Association, I wish to acknowledge the Bunurong people of the Kulin nation, as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which this Shrine stands, and pay my respects to their Elders past and present. As a place of remembrance and storytelling, and honour their deep connection to Country and waterways, shaped by generations of stories and memories.
My RAAF service ( S/N: O328105)
After completing training as a specialist general and colorectal surgeon, in Australia, the UK and the USA , I was appointed as Associate Professor, Monash University, Department of Surgery, in the School of Clinical Sciences, Monash Medical Centre, Clayton, and in February 2000, enlisted in the RAAF Specialist Reserve ( RAAFSR) as a general surgeon and posted to No.21 (City of Melbourne) Squadron, RAAF Williams. In the next 2 years I had Peacekeeping Deployments to Loholo, Bougainville and Dili, East Timor and an Active Service deployment to Moleana, East Timor, and as a consequence on 29 April 2002 was awarded the Australian Active Service Medal with East Timor clasp (AASMET).
In February 2005 I was the civilian Surgical Team leader of the Victorian Medical Team Golf as part of the Australian Tsunami Medical Response operation to Banda Aceh and there assisted with surgery in the Tri-service Anzac Hospital. I resigned from the RAAFSR in 2014, spending most of my service educating junior medical officers from the three ADF services on the principles of military surgery and trauma management.
In the Australia Day Civilian Honours list 2014, I was awarded an Order of Australia Medal (OAM), with the citation - for services to medicine as a clinician, educator and administrator!
So that is why I have the rank of squadron leader (RAAF, retired), but was never a pilot in the RAAF.
Introduction
On behalf of our President Mr Greg Smith and committee I wish to thank the Board of Trustees of the Shrine for giving our association the honour of leading this VE Day Commemoration, it emphasizes the significant role that RAAF aircrew played in the ultimate victory, some background to which I will embellish in my address.
The Friends of the Odd Bods was formed in 2016, to continue the purpose and motto of the Odd Bods, pressing on … remembering ( ref. www. Friends of the Odd bods.com.au)
The Odd Bods Association was formed by ex-R.A.A.F. and Allied Air Force members who had served in the UK, Europe and the Middle East in non-R.A.A.F. units, mostly Royal Air Force units, but some with South African unit..One of the co-founders of the Odd Bods was F/O George V. Smith who trained in Canada, and found himself in the south of England the only Australian in a RAF crew,as a Wireless-Air gunner ( WAG) in RAF 180 Sq. Flying B 25 Mitchell medium bombers. George is often regarded as the father of the Odd Bods, he is also the father of our current President.
The Odd bods, wanted an association to provide support and social cohesion after the terrors of war, so that they could hold reunions, and to remember those who had lost their lives in the many conflicts during the war. The Association was formed in 1947 and had at its peak, 500 members.
My Tribute
Our nation of just under 27 million people, has just voted on 3 May 2025, to re-elect our prime minister. On 3 September 1939, when our population was just under 7 million, our then prime minister Robert Gordon Menzies, had the melancholy duty ,to inform the nation, in a radio broadcast , that, in consequence of the persistence of Germany in her invasion of Poland, Great Britain has declared war upon her, and that , as a result, Australia is also at war!
Within a few short weeks, complex negotiations had begun in Ottawa, Canada between representatives of the dominions of the Empire, namely Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and to a lesser extent Rhodesia with those of the UK to form what would eventually become by November 1939 The Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS),
This was to answer the call from Great Britain to train aircrew to supplement what would be insufficient locally available recruits for the RAF to counter the significant strength of the Luftwaffe. The Australian War cabinet approved the scheme in principle in October 1939, and Menzies would go on radio to announce; It is no wonder that Great Britain in this time of peril, should have turned to her children, the Dominions, and to us not least of all!(1.)
The Scheme would provide Initial , Elementary and Service training in Australia, with completion of training, in Canada and the UK and crewing up and allocation to squadrons in the UK. There was specific training for pilots,bomb-aimers, flight engineers, navigators and wireless-air-gunners (WAGs)
Part of the EATS agreement included some specific RAAF squadrons in the UK(1.), but many RAAF aircrew were allocated to RAF squadrons, spread across: Bomber; Fighter; Coastal; and Transport Commands and 2 TAF. By the end of WWII EATS had trained over 200,000 aircrew in the RAAF., an incredible effort from such a small population base!
Some graduates of EATS would serve with the RAAF and make significant contributions to victory in the South West Pacific theatre of war against the Japanese, and their role is no lesser important but is not within the context of this address.
Many books have been written about the exploits of RAAF crew in the air war over Europe, but I will refer here to one written by an Odd Bod who served as a WAG in the lesser-known Transport Command, whom in his writings demonstrated great insight, John Ireland ‘ A Blue Orchid Cook’s tour’, Goodway Print Group, Geelong, October 2017. The title makes reference to how some RAAF aircrew on returning to Australia, after VE day, were regarded by their RSL comrades who defended Australia,blue orchid being reference to the dark blue uniform and being a fragile flower, with the inference they took the easy way out, and the trip to Europe being a leisurely ‘Thomas Cook’ holiday.
These sentiments may have been a reason why the Odd Bods formed such a strong bond? They knew that things were far from easy and it was anything but a Cook’s tour the air war over Europe.
In the Preface John sums up his own experiences:
Sometimes on reflection,
You would say to yourself,
How did I make it?
Forty percent never did!
Like John, my late father F/O Joseph Herbert Waxman DFC (RAAF rtd.), survived the war with 32 sorties, over occupied Europe as pilot of Halifax Mk IIIs in RAAF 466 squadron RAF Driffield, East Yorkshire, and I am here to tell the tale.
John was also lucky to be on leave in London on VE day and joined the celebrations in Trafalgar Square.
John was also present with other surviving Odd Bods on 14 March 2020, for the commemoration of the Odd Bods plaque at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.
More information about this commemoration, can be found on our website : www.friends of the odd bods.com.au, particularly the Commemorative Address, given by our patron AVM Peter Scully AO RAAF (rtd.)who emphasizes the significant contribution given by Odd bods in the air war over Europe.
John Ireland, is also referring to the high attrition rate of RAAF aircrew in Europe. Indeed, a greater mortality than any other branch of the armed services of Australians in all areas of conflict in WWII.
It is to those, that shall grow not old as we grow old, who paid the ultimate sacrifice, whom I wish to pay tribute to in this address, and I will take my speaker’s privilege to refer to my two name-sakes, for whom I am a living memorial. My father’s first cousin F/Sgt Bruce Williams a B25 Mitchell fighter bomber pilot with RAF 98 Sqn. KIA 25 September 1944 at Arnhem, Bruce was just 21, and F/Lt Philip Cawthorne DFC, Dad’s best friend from EATS days a Lancaster pilot with RAF 635 Pathfinder Force(PFF) Sqn KIA 6 April 1945 at Hesepe, Germany, just 4 weeks before VE day, Phil was 23.
On the going down of the sun, and in the morning.
We will remember them!
Lest we forget!or should we say Pressing on ….Remembering!
Cheers
Bruce Waxman
May 2025
Sources:
Mc Carthy, J. A last call of Empire. Australian aircrew, Britian and the Empire Air Training Scheme.
Australia War Memorial: Canberra 1988
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