The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX41532) Corporal Francis Alan Roddy, Headquarters General Base Depot Malaya, Second Australian Imperial Force, Second World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (NX41532) Corporal Francis Alan Roddy, Headquarters General Base Depot Malaya, Second Australian Imperial Force, Second World War.

NX41532, Corporal Francis Alan Roddy, Headquarters General Base Depot Malaya, Second Australian Imperial Force
DOD 10 December 1943
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 22 November 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal Francis Alan Roddy.

Born on 23 November 1919, Francis Roddy was the eldest of seven children born to Edward and Veronica Roddy. From the small rural farming community of Lacmalac near the town of Tumut in southern New South Wales, Roddy attended Mondongo Primary School and then the local convent school in Tumut. He left school at 16, and worked as a farm hand and labourer before enlisting in the Second Australian Imperial Force following the outbreak of the Second World War.

A talented young sportsman, he played Rugby League and was in the Group 9 Tumut Premiership team in 1940. Renowned as one of the best young all-round sportsmen in the district, he also excelled at cricket, where he played for country New South Wales. Following his enlistment in the Second AIF Roddy became the Lightweight Champion of the 8th Division.

Having enlisted in July 1941, Roddy was posted to the Headquarters General Base Depot of 8th Division, then based in Malaya, and he joined his unit in September.

Following Japan’s entry into the war in December 1941, the 8th Division fought in the defence of the Malayan peninsula. However, after weeks of fierce fighting, Singapore fell to the Japanese on 15 February 1942, and Roddy became one of 45,000 Australian and British troops captured in the surrender.

Roddy spent his first year as a prisoner of war at Selarang Barracks in the large camp at Changi, Singapore. In early 1943 he was drafted into “D Force”, which left Changi in March 1943 for Thailand. There, D Force joined a large workforce of slave labourers constructing the Burma–Thailand Railway.

Many of the prisoners were malnourished and disease was rife. It was in Thailand that Roddy died of enteritis on 10 December 1943. He was 24 years old.

Roddy’s body is buried in the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery at Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

When one of his close friends from the war visited his grave in 1973, he recalled a dashing young raw-boned stockrider from Tumut, crumpled digger hat worn sideways over his flashing eyes, ready for an argument on anything and game to fight it out.

Roddy’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with the names of some 40,000 Australians killed in the Second World War. His photograph is displayed beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of honour, courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Corporal Francis Alan Roddy, and all of those Australians who gave their lives in service of their nation.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section