Branch of Service

Air Force

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

20/07/1941

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Other Name(s)

Known at school as 'Joe' and as 'Adrian'

Date of Birth

18/04/1921

Place of Birth

Pymble, Sydney NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Melrose Valley via Tuggeranong ACT

School(s) Attended

Canberra Grammar School

Occupation

Student

Next of Kin

Son of Faulkner Andrew Ormiston and Valerie Bruce Ormiston of Sydney NSW, and Melrose Valley, Tuggeranong ACT.

Burial Place

Chester (Blacon) cemetery, Cheshire, England: grave A.65.

Service Number

412827

Final Rank

Warrant Officer

Final Unit

81 Operational Training Unit RAAF

Died 15 April 1944 aged 22 years, result of accident

AWM Roll of Honour, Canberra ACT: Panel 128.
Canberra Grammar School Roll of Honour 1939-45; and memorial window in the school chapel.

Adrian Ormiston's parents purchased 'Melrose Valley', near the Tuggeranong railway siding, for their son and built the existing house. Ormiston, who went to school at Canberra Grammar before enlisting, was killed in an accident on 15 April 1944 when his plane, an Albermarle K160 9, crashed at Northwich, England. He was buried at Chester (Blacon) Cemetery in England.

Chester (Blacon) was a new cemetery in 1940 when the authorities set aside two plots for service burials. The larger plot in section \'A\' was used as a Royal Air Force regional cemetery by a number of R.A.F. stations in Cheshire and the adjoining counties. Only airmen are buried in it.

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>
ACT Electoral Roll, 1941.
Canberra & District Historical Society Newsletter, December 1971
http://www.forthefallen.co.uk/grukblaconcheshire.htm (photograph of headstone)
Image courtesy of Pamela Hunt, Canberra Grammar School archives
The Canberra Times - 21 April 1944, 15 May 1944, 26 June 1947