Welcome to the Montmorency Eltham RSL!

Montmorency Eltham RSL

14 hours ago

Over 38 days, we will honour each of the 38 men whose names are inscribed on the cenotaph at the Eltham War Memorial.

This evening, we remember VX15252 Sergeant Cuthbert Douglas Dunlop, a young soldier whose life was lost in the desperate fighting at Gona in New Guinea.

Cuthbert Douglas Dunlop was born on 14 September 1920. He first enlisted in the Militia in 1939 before transferring to the Australian Imperial Force in May 1940. In January 1942, his service record was updated to show his father residing in Henry Street, Eltham, and it is through that family connection that his name is remembered in this district.

Posted to the 2/14th Battalion of the 7th Division, Cuth served in the Middle East, including Palestine, Egypt, and the Syria-Lebanon campaign against Vichy French forces. He endured illness and injury, but returned repeatedly to his unit. In early 1942, the 7th Division was recalled to Australia as the war in the Pacific intensified.

By August 1942, the 2/14th Battalion was deployed to New Guinea and soon found itself fighting along the Kokoda Track. In brutal conditions, the battalion conducted a series of fighting withdrawals toward Port Moresby. Casualties were devastating. Of the 546 men who began the campaign, only a fraction remained fit for duty by mid-September. During this campaign Cuth was promoted first to Lance Corporal and then to Acting Corporal.

After rebuilding, the 2/14th was committed to the assault on the Japanese beachhead at Gona in November 1942. On 13 November, Cuth was promoted to Acting Sergeant. Nine days later, on 22 November 1942, he was killed in action.

He was twenty-two years old.

Gona was finally secured in December, but at terrible cost. Cuthbert Dunlop was buried in the Gona area and later re-interred in the Gona War Cemetery.

This evening, we honour the service and sacrifice of Sergeant Cuthbert Douglas Dunlop, a young Australian who endured the desert, the jungle, and the fiercest fighting of New Guinea, and who gave his life at Gona so that Australia might be defended.

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Montmorency Eltham RSL

1 day ago

We are deeply saddened to hear that a plaque from the Lara Memorial Gates has been stolen. To see this is distressing for all who value remembrance.

We understand the sense of hurt and frustration that comes when a memorial space is targeted. Please know that your Sub-Branch and your community have our full support.

We stand with The Lara RSL Sub Branch in reaffirming that acts like this will not diminish your community’s commitment to honouring those who served.

Ash Graham
President
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Montmorency Eltham RSL

2 days ago

Over 38 days, we will honour each of the 38 men whose names are inscribed on the cenotaph at the Eltham War Memorial.

This evening, we remember 410236 Flight Sergeant Lester Neil Ingram, a son of Research whose life was lost in England while preparing for the air war over Europe.

Lester Neil Ingram was born at Kew on 8 November 1911, the son of John and Ada Ingram, his family’s roots lay firmly in the district of Research. A sheet metal worker by qualification and a baker by experience, he had run the family bakery business for many years before the family later moved to Anglesea River. It was from this background of steady work and rural community life that he stepped forward to serve.

He enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force on 5 December 1941 and trained as an Air Gunner at Victor Harbour, Ballarat and West Sale. Promoted to Sergeant in October 1942, he embarked for the United Kingdom later that year, joining Bomber Command at a time when the air offensive against Germany was intensifying.

On the night of 22 April 1943, Lester was part of the crew of a Whitley V bomber engaged in a non-operational training flight from RAF Abingdon. The mission was a dual conversion exercise, preparing aircrew for operational duties. Shortly after take-off, having climbed to approximately 800 feet, the aircraft was seen to pass from view. Moments later it crashed northwest of Longworth, Berkshire. Witnesses reported that the engines appeared to lose synchronisation before the aircraft struck the ground and was destroyed by fire. All five crew members were killed.

Flight Sergeant Lester Neil Ingram was thirty-one years old.

Though he did not fall over enemy territory, his loss was part of the heavy and often unseen toll of the air war. The demands of Bomber Command required constant training, and many airmen lost their lives before ever reaching operational missions.

This evening, we honour the service and sacrifice of Flight Sergeant Lester Neil Ingram, a man from Research who gave his life in preparation for the fight against tyranny, and whose name endures in remembrance.

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Montmorency Eltham RSL

3 days ago

Over 38 days, we will honour each of the 38 men whose names are inscribed on the cenotaph at the Eltham War Memorial.

This evening, we remember 419844 Flight Sergeant Stanley McLean, a young airman of Eltham who was lost over Germany in the air war against the Reich.

Stanley McLean was born on 21 April 1924 at Carlton, the son of Gordon and Lucy McLean. Around 1941, the family made their home in Mount Pleasant Road, Eltham. It was from this district that Stanley stepped forward to serve, part of a generation of young Australians drawn into a global conflict.

In July 1942, at just eighteen years of age, Stanley applied for aircrew training with the Royal Australian Air Force. He enlisted that September, his occupation recorded as a junior staff assistant with the Department of Aircraft Production. Selected as a Wireless Air Gunner, he trained across Australia at Somers, Parkes, Port Pirie and West Sale before embarking for the United Kingdom in September 1943.

In Britain, he continued advanced training before being posted to No. 514 Squadron, flying the heavy Avro Lancaster bomber. By late 1944 the Allied air offensive against Germany was at its height. Bomber Command was striking rail centres, industrial targets and supply routes to hasten the collapse of German resistance.

On 7 October 1944, Lancaster LM735 took off from RAF Waterbeach in daylight, tasked with bombing the German town of Emmerich on the Rhine. Nothing further was heard from the aircraft after departure, and it failed to return. It is believed the bomber was lost in the target area, most likely brought down by anti-aircraft fire during the attack. All crew members were killed.

Flight Sergeant Stanley McLean was twenty years old. He is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery in Germany, near the Dutch border, not far from where his aircraft came down.

This evening, we honour the service and sacrifice of Flight Sergeant Stanley McLean, a young man from Mount Pleasant Road, Eltham, who flew into the heart of enemy territory and did not return. His name endures among those who carried the burden of the air war in Europe and gave their lives in its skies.

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Montmorency Eltham RSL

4 days ago

Over 38 days, we will honour each of the 38 men whose names are inscribed on the cenotaph at the Eltham War Memorial.

This evening, we remember 410262 Flight Lieutenant Donald Hemphill Rutter, a son of Eltham who was lost in the skies over Germany in the final weeks of the Second World War.

Donald was born on 5 January 1922, grew up in Eltham, was educated at Geelong Grammar and later a student of Agricultural Science at the University of Melbourne. Donald enlisted in the R.A.A.F. in December 1941, just days before his older brother, Flying Officer David Rutter, who was remembered last night, gave his life in North Africa.

He trained in Australia before being commissioned and posted to the United Kingdom, where he joined No. 247 Squadron of the Royal Air Force. Flying the powerful Hawker Typhoon, he took part in armed reconnaissance missions over occupied Europe in support of advancing Allied ground forces.

On 5 April 1945, as the war in Europe neared its end, Flight Lieutenant Rutter was leading an attack on enemy transport near Cloppenburg in northern Germany. The formation dived through intense anti-aircraft fire. His aircraft was seen entering the attack, but it did not pull out. Fellow pilots circled the area, hoping he had forced-landed safely, but there was no sign.

He was reported missing in air operations. For his father, already grieving the loss of one son and a daughter, the months that followed were filled with uncertainty and fragile hope. Rumours surfaced that he had been seen alive. Letters were written. Enquiries were made. It was not until 1947 that the crash site was located in swampy ground near Varrelbusch airfield. His Typhoon had exploded on impact. Recovery operations confirmed that he had been killed instantly.

Flight Lieutenant Donald Hemphill Rutter was twenty-three years old. He now rests in Hanover War Cemetery in Germany.

This evening, we honour the service and sacrifice of Flight Lieutenant Donald Hemphill Rutter, a young Australian airman who fell in the closing chapter of the war in Europe, and whose family’s name remains woven into the history and remembrance of the Eltham district.

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