The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (QX9322) Gunner James Alexander Savage, 2/10th Field Regiment, 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 meleah Hampton, the story for this day was on (QX9322) Gunner James Alexander Savage, 2/10th Field Regiment, Second Australian Imperial Force, Second World War.

QX9322 Gunner James Alexander Savage, 2/10th Field Regiment, Second Australian Imperial Force
DOI 13 December 1943

Today we remember and pay tribute to Gunner James Alexander Savage.

James Savage was born on 23 October 1914 in Charters Towers, Queensland. As a small child he came to live with his uncle and aunt, August and Mary Anderson, at their dairy farm in Miva. He was raised by the couple as a son, and as a brother to Doreen and May Anderson.

Savage attended Munna Creek School and was a keen sportsman. He was particularly fond of horse riding, and from a young age could ride his pony without saddle or bridle. Later he worked as a farm hand and labourer, and was employed as a motor driver when he enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force.

Joining up on 17 June 1940, Savage began training at the Caloundra infantry training depot before being posted to the newly formed 2/10th Field Regiment. He began training with heavy artillery, and in January 1941 he married Kathleen Robinson.

On 2 February 1941 Savage embarked with his regiment aboard the Queen Mary, bound for Singapore. As part of the 8th Division, the 2/10th then moved to Malacca, where in May Savage was hospitalised for two months with appendicitis. Re-joining his regiment for training manoeuvres, in December Savage was again hospitalised, this time with malaria. He did not re-join his regiment until January 1942, at which point it was engaged in fighting invading Japanese forces in Malaya.

Although the 2/10th Regiment kept up its defence until the very end, enemy forces were overpowering the Allies. On 14 February 1942 Commonwealth forces in Malaya surrendered to the Japanese. Gunner Savage was among the thousands of Australians who became prisoners of war in Changi prison camp.

At Changi, the Japanese began calling for groups of working parties to travel to various destinations in Thailand, Burma, and the Pacific area. With promises of increased food rations and no labour, Savage was among the more than 3,600 Australians who joined F Force, which left for Thailand on 18 April 1943.

F Force’s treatment was horrendous. Crammed into trains and then forced to march more than 300 kilometres, many already ill men died before they reached the camp. Over the following months they were forced to work in appalling conditions on the Burma–Thailand Railway. It wasn’t until November that the men of F Force began to be transported back to Changi. Of the original force, more than 1,400 did not return.

Gunner James Savage was among those who never made it back. He contracted cardiac beriberi, and died in a Thailand camp on 13 December 1943. He was 29 years old.
He was dearly missed by his wife, mother, sisters, and friends, who continued to place in memoriam notices in the newspapers for years after his death. One, inserted by his wife, Kathleen, read, “Not just for today, but every day, a thought.”

Today his remains lie in the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, under the inscription: “A soldier and a man, now duty nobly done. Alive in our memory.”

Gunner James Alexander Savage’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 others from the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Gunner James Savage, and all those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Christina Zissis
Editor, Military History Section