Branch of Service

Air Force

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

24/04/1942

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

15/07/1923

Place of Birth

Malvern, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Wesley College, University of Sydney

School(s) Attended

Ainslie Primary School (1931-5), Telopea Park Intermediate High School [original Canberra High School] (Feb 1936+), Canberra High School (-1941).

Occupation

University student in connection with the NSW Forestry Commission

Next of Kin

Second son of Clifford Russell Kennard and Ida Nellie Kennard, 57 Euree St, Reid, ACT; brother of Flight Lieutenant R. W. Kennard RAAF, twice recommended for US decoration.

Burial Place

Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany: grave 21. A. 8.

Service Number

422080

Final Rank

Flying Officer

Final Unit

180 Squadron RAF

Died 21 March 1945 aged 21, in flying battle over Bocholt, Germany.

AWM Roll of Honour, Canberra ACT: Panel 125.
Canberra High School Memorial Tablet
Kennard Cup. Canberra High School prize for debating competition between school houses.
Honour Roll in 'The Beacon', the Magazine of Ainslie School 1943

Kennard played Australian Rules Football with the Ainslie Football Club and was captain at Canberra High School in 1940. That year he won the Commonwealth Forestry Scholarship but joined the Customs Department before taking up the scholarship at Sydney University where he spent a year before enlisting in the RAAF.

He trained in Canada as a pilot and took part in the D-Day operations in June 1944, after which he spent nine months as an instructor in England. He was in command of a Mitchell bomber on an operation over Bocholt, Germany on 21 March 1945 when his plane was shot down. Kennard was buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Kleve, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany: grave 21. A. 8. His parents donated the Bob Kennard Cup for debating to Canberra High in 1948.

Australia. Department of Veterans' Affairs. World War 2 nominal roll. <http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/>
AWM Roll of Honour and Roll of Honour Circulars <http://www.awm.gov.au/database/roh.asp>
AWM Collections Record : UK1483, UK1646
NAA RecordSearch
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Debt of Honour Register. <http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search/>
Canberra High School. Roll of Honour 1939-1945. [Plaque in school]
Canberra High School. Albums compiled for student project researching names on School Roll of Honour, 1985.
Canberra High School. Unveiling of Memorial Tablet. Friday, 25th April 1947. [Programme]
The Canberra Times - 16 December 1941 (p.4), 15 March 1943, 26 March 1945, 26 June 1948
The Beacon (student magazine of Ainslie Primary School), no.5, 18 December 1941