Informal portrait of VX40805 Corporal Herbert William Morgan, 2/22 Battalion, of Fairfield Park, ...

Informal portrait of VX40805 Corporal Herbert William Morgan, 2/22 Battalion, of Fairfield Park, Victoria. Prior to enlistment, Cpl Morgan was a member of the Brunswick Salvation Army band. In 1940, 23 band members jointly enlisted for service in the Second World War and became members of 2/22 Battalion regimental band. The 2/22 Battalion served as a garrison force at Rabaul, New Britain, until 23 January 1942 when a force of over 20,000 Japanese troops with air and naval support stormed ashore in the early hours of the morning. The vastly superior force overran the underpowered defenders, who ran out of ammunition and any means of communication. The Australian garrison was forced to withdraw and split into small groups. While some managed to escape by sea, a great many were killed or captured. On 22 June 1942 Cpl Morgan was one of an estimated 845 POWs and 209 civilians who embarked from Rabaul aboard the Japanese transport ship MV Montevideo Maru. The POWs were members of 2/22 Battalion, No. 1 Independent Company, and other units of Lark Force. Civilians included officials of the New Guinea Administration and missionaries. The ship sailed unescorted for Hainan Island. On 1 July 1942 all the prisoners died when the Montevideo Maru was torpedoed by a US Navy submarine, USS Sturgeon, off the coast of Luzon Island in the Philippines. Pte Morgan was listed as missing, presumed dead, in the South West Pacific Area on 1 July 1942. Only one member of 2/22 Band, VX29061 Private Frederick William Kollmorgen, survived the 1942 New Britain campaign.

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