James Bennett was buried at Melbourne’s St Kilda Cemetery on 17 June 1922.

The inscription reads:

ERECTED BY HIS PARENTS
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
LIEUT. JAMES MALLET BENNETT
A.F.M. AND BAR, M.S.M.
LATE AUSTRALIAN FLYING CORP A.I.F.
BORN ST. KILDA 1894
PASSED TO A HIGHER LIFE
13TH APRIL 1922
AT WEYBRIDGE ENGLAND,
RESULT OF AN AEROPLANE ACCIDENT.
ACCOMPANIED LATE CAPT. SIR ROSS SMITH K.B.E. ON FIRST AEROPLANE FLIGHT, EGYPT TO INDIA DEC. 1918.
ALSO FIRST AEROPLANE FLIGHT, ENGLAND TO AUSTRALIA, NOV-DEC 1919

You’ll find Jim Bennett’s resting place in the Church of England section (Compartment ED, Grave 1S) at St Kilda Cemetery, Dandenong Road, St Kilda East, Victoria.

Walter “Wally” Shiers was buried at Adelaide’s Centennial Park Cemetery on 4 June 1968. He was the last of the Vimy crew to pass away.

The inscription reads:

27 LIEUTENANT
W.H. SHIERS, A.F.M.
1 SQUADRON A.F.C.
2ND JUNE 1968 AGE 79 YEARS
EVER REMEMBERED BY BROTHERS ART AND ALF
FAMILY AND FRIEND DORRIE. R.I.P.

You’ll find Wally’s resting site in the Derrick Gardens (Path 7, Grave 552A) at Centennial Park Cemetery, 760 Goodwood Road, Pasadena, SA.

An Australian Army bugler plays The Last Post beside Wally Shiers’ gravesite on 17 May 2019, as part of an Epic Flight Centenary event commemorating the Vimy mechanic’s life. Wally was born on 17 May 1889.

Sir Keith Smith was buried at North Road Cemetery on 22 December 1955.

The inscription reads:

IN LOVING MEMORY
OF
KEITH MACPHERSON SMITH
1890 – 1955
AND HIS WIFE
ANITA
1894 – 1986

His modest tablet headstone is part of the Smith family plot which also includes his wife Lady Anita Smith, his parents, Andrew and Jessie Smith, and Sir Ross Smith.

Ross and Keith’s younger brother Colin is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium (grave reference XXV-C-1). He died in October 1917, at the age of 22, after sustaining shrapnel wounds and a compound fracture during fierce fighting near Polygon Wood.

The Smith family lies in Plot 6089, Path 23 at North Road Cemetery, 1A Cemetery Avenue, Nailsworth, SA.

You’ll find further information at the SA History Hub.

Sir Ross Smith was buried at North Road Cemetery on 15 June 1922.

The inscription reads:

IN LOVING MEMORY
OF
CAPT. SIR ROSS MACPHERSON SMITH
K.B.E. M.C.ᵡ D.F.C.ᵡᵡ A.F.C. F.R.G.S.
DIED AT BROOKLANDS, SURREY, ENGLAND
13TH APRIL 1922
BURIED IN THIS CEMETERY, 15 JUNE 1922
AGED 29 YEARS
“I BARE YOU ON EAGLES’ WINGS AND BROUGHT YOU UNTO MYSELF.”

His Calvary Cross headstone forms the elegant centrepiece of the Smith family plot which also includes his parents, Andrew and Jessie Smith, and Sir Keith Smith and his wife, Lady Anita Smith.

Ross and Keith’s younger brother Colin is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium (grave reference XXV-C-1). He died in October 1917, at the age of 22, after sustaining shrapnel wounds and a compound fracture during fierce fighting near Polygon Wood.

The Smith family lies in Plot 6089, Path 23 at North Road Cemetery, 1A Cemetery Avenue, Nailsworth, SA.

You’ll find further information at the SA History Hub.

Photo by Helen Stein.