The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (QX63309) Sapper Frank Wilfred Platt, 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers, 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 , the story for this day was on (QX63309) Sapper Frank Wilfred Platt, 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers, Second World War.


**Due to technical issues this recording is of poor quality and not for public display.**

QX63309 Sapper Frank Wilfred Platt, 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers
Accidentally killed 21 May 1945
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 21 May 2014

Today we pay tribute to Sapper Frank Wilfred Platt, who was killed in the service of the Royal Australian Engineers in 1945.

Born in Brisbane on 27 September 1924, Frank Wilfred Platt was the son of Frank Austerlands Platt and Martha Jane Platt. Platt attended school at Brisbane Grammar on a scholarship and following graduation he studied bookkeeping and arithmetic at university. Before enlistment in the military, Platt worked as a clerk.

Having been first mobilised for the militia in October 1942, Platt volunteered for the Second Australian Imperial Force in February 1945. In May, he was posted to the 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers, at the large Australian Army training base at Kapooka. However, in the afternoon of 21 May 1945, tragedy struck.

Crowded within a dug-out during a routine demolition training exercise on the preparation of hand charges were two groups: one of 22 trainees and two instructors, and a smaller squad of three men and one instructor. Inside the dug-out were 110 pounds of explosives that were stored for the day's training exercise. In circumstances that to this day remain unknown, the explosives ignited. In the explosion, 24 men were killed instantly, two died of injuries shortly afterwards, and two more were severely injured.

Platt was one of those killed in the accident. He was 20 years old.

A mass funeral was held for the men in Wagga Wagga on 24 May. Thousands of people lined the route of the funeral parade. The 26 flag-draped coffins were carried on four army trucks. The cortège included over 100 military vehicles carrying members of the army and air force. The dead were buried in the Wagga Wagga War Cemetery.

Platt's name - along with those of the 25 others who were killed in the accident - is listed here on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with around 40,000 Australians who lost their lives in the Second World War. There is no photograph in the Memorial's collection to display beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Sapper Frank Wilfred Platt, and all of those Australians who gave their lives in the hope for a better world.