The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (VX47063) Gunner Colin Maxwell Henderson, 4th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, 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 (VX47063) Gunner Colin Maxwell Henderson, 4th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, Second World War.

VX47063 Gunner Colin Maxwell Henderson, 4th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery.
KIA 12 September 1944
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 28 May 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Gunner Colin Maxwell Henderson.

The son of Thomas and Ethel Henderson, Colin was born in Glenorchy, Victoria, on 10 December 1918. Before the war he had married Margaret Henderson, and on 16 July 1940 he enlisted in the AIF. From the farming town of Murtoa, in the Wimmera district of Victoria, Henderson was one of many men from that region who, on enlisting in the AIF, became a member of the 4th Anti-Tank Regiment of the Royal Australian Artillery.

In February 1941 the regiment was sailing aboard the famous ocean-liner-turned-troop-transport, the Queen Mary, bound for Singapore.

Following Japan's entry into the war in December 1941 the 4th Anti-Tank Regiment played a key role in the defence of the Malayan peninsula, for which the gunners of the regiment were forever proud. However, on 15 February 1942, after weeks of fierce fighting, Singapore fell to the Japanese, and Henderson became one of 45,000 Australian and British troops captured in the surrender.

In captivity Henderson was one of thousands of prisoners of war forced by the Japanese to help construct the Burma-Thailand Railway. Following the railway's completion Henderson returned to Singapore. There he was among the work party remnants to be sent from Singapore to Japan, and on 6 September 1944 he embarked upon the Rakuyo Maru and Kachidoki Maru. On 12 September the convoy in which the Rakuyo Maru sailed was attacked. The ship, which was carrying 1,318 prisoners of war, was hit by a torpedo from the USS Sealion. Not long after, the Kachidoki Maru was sunk by the USS Pampanito.

It took 12 hours for the stricken Rakuyo Maru to sink. No prisoners were seriously hurt in the explosion and an orderly evacuation was made. Once in the water, however, the prisoners faced a mixed and uncertain fate. Some managed to board lifeboats but many in the water clung to debris. Over the following days Japanese destroyers picked up around 500 survivors of the Rakuyo Maru and Kachidoki Maru; American submarines would pick up around 150. A total of 1,559 Australian and British prisoners were killed in the sinking of the two ships. Henderson was one of those killed.

Henderson'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. 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 honour, courage, and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Colin Maxwell Henderson, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.