A Ballarat student and publican who made headlines around the world for an incredible act of apology will be laid to rest in coming days.
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Lawrence 'Laurie' Larmer, 99, died on Friday - more than 75 years after serving as an Australian airforce Halifax bomber pilot over Germany - and five years after visiting the communities he bombed - to say sorry.
He first put pen to paper in 2015 and famously said in one of his letters to the mayors of each area his unit bombed:
"I cannot recall the military reason for the raid and I make no apologies for it.
"But I deeply and truly regret that we were responsible for the deaths and injuries of so many innocent civilians: men, women and children.
"Unfortunately todays wars are not just between military personnel.
"Good people on both sides suffer and die."
The mayors of each bombed city were impressed - and formally forgave the former bomber, inviting Laurie to Germany.
"The Germans had every reason to detest and hate me (but) they wrote back saying they understand I was a young man obeying instructions," he told The Courier in 2018.
"They understand and forgive."
As a result, 40 students at his alma mater, St Patrick's College, organised a tour of European war sites at their own expense.
Laurie was born in 1923 and died just four months short of his 100th birthday. He attended St Patrick's from 1935-1940.
Laurie formally joined the RAAF in September 1944 and served for 18 months.
As a 21-year-old, Laurie flew on several missions over Germany in 1945, bombing Dortmund, Hamburg, Hagen, Boizenburg, Wangerooge, Bayreuth, Wuppertal and Travemunde and the fortress island of Heligoland.
Allan McKinnon, a former president of the St Patrick's College Old Collegians Association, said Laurie felt remorse about his actions.
"In the letters from all those mayors, they said there was no need to feel guilty about bombing their areas," he said.
"It was because they were just as anxious to get rid of Hitler as the allies were."
Their generous replies of each community led Laurie to a deeper consideration of the nature of war.
"The world hasn't learnt. We're still going to war," he told The Courier in 2021.
"I feel strongly about it because I saw what happens to people, and it doesn't stop."
He was just one of 106 Australians awarded the Legion d'Honneur. He also received the Bomber Command Class Medal.
Laurie said in 2021 he felt he had lived a full life - and was grateful for everything that had happened to him.
He was born "three doors from Moonee Valley Racecourse" and had a lifelong love of horse racing.
Laurie described early memories of Phar Lap to reporters - and his mother taking home and washing the gear belonging to Phar Lap's jockey Jim Pike.
On Anzac Day 2022 he was the committee's guest of honour at Flemington - where he got to cheer on a horse he owned as part of a syndicate.
In business, Laurie was a member of the Sydney Road Development Committee and the Sydney Road Traders Association - where he owned a local pub.
He also ran a hotel in Newmarket and the Athletic Club Hotel in Ballarat.
In 2021 Laurie was admitted to the Order of Australia in recognition of his years of community work, including his work with St Patrick's College, the Australian Hotels Association, the Don Bosco Brunswick Foundation, The St Vincent de Paul volunteer committee and the Christian Brothers Foundation.
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Gabrielle Hodson
'All-rounder' journalist since 1993. I've worked in print, radio, TV & online as well as radio & TV producing and radio presenting. Working on Wadawurrung land. There are 7.9 billion stories out there. I'd love to hear yours...
'All-rounder' journalist since 1993. I've worked in print, radio, TV & online as well as radio & TV producing and radio presenting. Working on Wadawurrung land. There are 7.9 billion stories out there. I'd love to hear yours...
