Commemorative Roll, AWM Canberra

Last week I was privileged to stand in my mother's place as her cousin Pip was remembered at the Australian War Memorial (AWM) in Canberra.

The occasion was a talk given on 16 January 2020, explaining the existence and meaning of the AWM's Commemorative Roll. Like the Honour Roll, it acknowledges the lives lost in war in the service of one's country, but those on the Commemorative Roll were Australians serving in an Allied force and not the Australian armed forces.

Elise Horspool & Louise Wilson, AWM Canberra, Jan 2020

Philip Hugh Boulton (Pip) was among the eight or nine people whose stories were briefly told by Elise Horspool, an Assistant Curator at the AWM. An Australian, he happened to be in England when WW2 broke out and thus he served as a pilot in the RAF rather than the RAAF.  He was killed on 29 May 1941 when a plane in which he was a passenger crashed into the Dorset hills after an air-sea firing exercise.

P H Boulton, Sussex, 1939
Photo by Courtesy Julia Woodhouse

It seems that his name was submitted for inclusion on the Commemorative Roll several years ago by an internal staff member of the AWM. Once the relevant AWM staff had confirmed all the details, Pip's name was added to the Commemorative Roll database in September 2019, 78 years after his death! The reference number is www.awm.gov.au/collection/R2682025. His is not a unique case. Names from past wars continue to be added to the Commemorative Roll, as researchers come across the stories of relevant candidates.  Nominations from the public are also considered by AWM staff.

It was not until late November 2019 that the family first became aware of this amazingly-belated recognition of Pip's service, or even knew that he was eligible for it. Elise Horspool sent a message and then a follow-up message:

Pip represents a large cross section of Australian society at the time: a family with generational service and an Australian who died serving in the Royal Air Force/Volunteer Reserve. Along with Pip, I have chosen an Australian Philippine Army guerrilla, an Australian Commando serving with the British, an Australian Merchant Marine who survived the sinking of two of his ships (but not the third), an Australian Engineer who served with the Federated Malay States Volunteer Force and worked on the Thai-Burma Railway, two British brothers who made Australia their home but heard the call to return to the British Army and an Australian Painter who'd migrated to New Zealand. These stories represent different facets of our history and society over different wars and services. However, they all have the same thing in common, they were Australian but served with other Allied forces. I think their stories are extraordinary and they are equal to those on the Roll of Honour. 

The Commemorative Roll is tucked away up a short flight of stairs at the end of the Reflective Pool, on the right hand side as you enter the pool area.

Commemorative Roll Alcove, AWM Canberra

If you wish to view the roll you need to ask an attendant at the main desk to unlock it. I did this but the name I sought was not on the page.  Having only recently been identified as eligible, Philip Hugh Boulton (Pip)  will be included when the Roll is reprinted shortly.

Commemorative Roll Display Cabinet, AWM Canberra

Afterwards I bowed my head before his uncle Steve's name (S P Boulton) on the Honour Roll for those serving in the 2nd Brigade of Australia's First Division in WW1. His name was so crowded with poppies that it is almost obscured.

Honour Roll, Panel 11, AWM Canberra

Read more about Pip here and here. Read more abut Pip's father and Uncle Steve in WW1 in their letters, published as Brothers in Arms: the Great War Letters of Captain Nigel Boulton, R.A.M.C. & Lieut Stephen Boulton, A.I.F.   The AWM Bookshop still has two copies.

Should you ever wish to consult them, the original letters are held in Canberra within the AWM's Collection, Nigel's at https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C92249 and Stephen's at https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C92250