EDDISON, Edward Dalkeith

  1. Service Details
  2. Personal Details
  3. Unit and Rank Details
  4. Fate
  5. Commemoration
  6. Notes
  7. Sources

Service Details

Branch of Service
Air Force
Conflict
World War II (1939-1945)
Date of Enlistment
04/09/1939
Place of Enlistment
Point Cook, Victoria

Personal Details

Gender
Male
Other Name(s)
Known as 'Keith'
Date of Birth
06/04/1918
Place of Birth
Southampton, Hampshire, England (Nationality shown as Australian on Commonwealth War Graves Commission database)
Address (at enlistment)
The Oaks', Oaks Estate, ACT, and later 'Yamba', Cotter Road; Yaouk snow lease 1935-36.
School(s) Attended
Telopea Park Primary School (1928-30), Telopea Park Intermediate High School (1931-32), Canberra Grammar School (1932-34)
Occupation
Grazier
Next of Kin
Son of Walter Herbert and Marion Louisa Osbaldeston Eddison of Canberra. Brother of Marion Douglas and Pam Yonge (both nee Eddison).

Unit and Rank Details

Service Number
563
Final Rank
Flight Lieutenant
Final Unit
30 Squadron RAAF

Fate

Died 27 May 1943 aged 25 years, in flying battle near Lae, New Guinea

Commemoration

AWM Roll of Honour, Canberra ACT: Panel 102.
Eddison Park, Woden ACT, named in honour of Eddison family.
Lae Memorial, Papua New Guinea : Panel 6.
St John the Baptist Anglican Church, Reid, plaque on south wall of nave.
St John the Baptist Anglican Church, Reid, Book of Remembrance of Canberra parishioners who died in the war of 1939-45, in recess in south wall of nave.

Notes

Died 27 May 1943 aged 25 years, in flying battle at Lae, New Guinea. The Lae Memorial was designed to commemorate officers and men of the Royal Australian Army, the Australian Merchant Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force who lost their lives in operations in the area, and who have no known grave.

Two brothers also died in the war: Jack Osbaldeston Eddison and Frank Leslie Herbert Eddison. Their father, Walter Herbert Eddison, served as a captain in the 56th Battalion in WW1. After the war, he applied for and was granted a soldier settlement block at Woden ACT. He and his wife called the property 'Yamba'. From about 1920 until 1928, the family lived at 'The Oaks', Oaks Estate ACT, while the Woden property was being developed.

After finishing school in 1935 Keith Eddison selected a property near Yaouk but studied physics prior to joining the RAAF in 1939 at Point Cook when war broke out. He served as a flying instructor at Point Cook during 1941 and at 5 Service Flying Training School at Uranquinty from January to November 1942. He then trained on a Beaufighter and joined 30 Squadron in Papua on 26 March 1943. 30 Squadron operated out of Wards Aerodrome at Port Moresby and from there Eddison flew missions over Finschhafen, Kelo-Salamaua and Alexishafen in New Guinea. At around 0900 hours on 27 May 1943 Eddison and five other Beaufighters took off from Wards to attack the aerodrome at Lae, New Guinea. When diving to attack the aerodrome Eddison's plane was seen to rise sharply and then crash into the jungle and burst into flames. It is believed his plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire.

Description - height 6 feet 3 inches, weight 175 pounds, chest 37-40 inches, scar on his left knee, birthmark on his left buttock, Church of England.

Sources

Australia. Department of Veterans' Affairs. World War 2 nominal roll. <http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/>
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Debt of Honour Register. http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search/
AWM Roll of Honour and Roll of Honour Circulars <http://www.awm.gov.au/database/roh.asp>
Australian War Memorial. Photographs database. http://www.awm.gov.au/
Rex Cross, Bygone Queanbeyan, revised edition, 1985 (p.232)
Karen Williams, Oaks Estate: No Man's Land, Canberra, K. Williams, 1997 (pp. 35,37,238 (note 1))
Procter, Peter. Biographical Register of Canberra and Queanbeyan, Canberra, Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra (p.88)
Don Mountain ed. Monumental inscriptions: Australian Capital Territory, including Jervis Bay. Canberra, Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra, 2001 (pp.40, 41)
Nauenberg, Miriam. Index to Telopea Park Primary School: Register of admissions 1923-1946. Typescript compiled for the Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra.
Telopea Park Primary School: Register of admissions 1923-1946. Volume (a): Boys.
Fionna Douglas, 'Not without my Corsets', 1996
Photocopy MS held by Heraldry & Genealogy Society of Canberra.
AWM Collections: P00135.005, P01274.001, P03412.002
NAA RecordSearch
The Canberra Times - 27 January 1941, 4 June 1943, 12 June 1948, 14 June 1948

Create Certificate
Keith Eddison is in the back row, fifth from the left. Taken at Laverton, Victoria

Keith Eddison is in the back row, fifth from the left. Taken at Laverton, Victoria

No.5 Operational Training Unit RAAF (5OTU). Keith Eddison is seated second from left.

No.5 Operational Training Unit RAAF (5OTU). Keith Eddison is seated second from left.

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