The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (PM/V77) Sub-Lieutenant Richard Pirrie, HMS Copra, attached to the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (PM/V77) Sub-Lieutenant Richard Pirrie, HMS Copra, attached to the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy, Second World War.

PM/V77 Sub-Lieutenant Richard Pirrie, HMS Copra, attached to the Royal Navy, Royal Australian Navy
KIA 6 June 1944
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 6 June 2014

Today, on the 70th Anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Normandy, we pay tribute to Sub-Lieutenant Richard Pirrie.

D-Day, 6 June 1944, has become an iconic event not only in the history of the Second World War but also in the history of the Western world. On this tumultuous day, a multi-national Allied force landed on the shores of Normandy. It was the first major step in the liberation of Western Europe from the tyranny of Nazism and fascism.

The eldest son of six children to Richard Francis Pirrie and Isobel Agatha Pirrie, Richard Pirrie was born in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn on 6 June 1920. Growing up, Pirrie attended St Patrick’s College in East Melbourne. A member of the Royal Australian Naval Volunteer reserve, Pirrie had been a promising sportsman throughout his school days, and had played three games on the wing for the Hawthorn Football Club before his mobilisation in 1941.

Seconded to the Royal Navy, Pirrie travelled to England where his British colleagues called him “Digger”. Based at HMS Collingwood, he soon saw action on various destroyers, including HMS Quentin and HMS Middleton, during convoy duties to places such as Russia, Panama, Iceland, and Malta.

Pirrie was promoted to the rank of Sub-Lieutenant and joined HMS Quebec, a flotilla of landing craft. In 1943 Pirrie commanded a landing craft in the invasions of Sicily and Italy.

During the Normandy invasion on 6 June 1944, his 24th birthday, Pirrie was in command of a landing craft when it was hit by German gunfire, killing him. His was among the first wave of landing craft approaching Juno Beach. Pirrie had been tasked with the dangerous job of piloting his landing craft close to the beach – in full view of the enemy – from where it could direct naval gunfire onto the German defences.

In the hours before the invasion, Pirrie wrote a letter home to his family. It read:

My dearest Mother, Dad, and the boys. Well, my dears, the pressure is on now and as soon as the weather improves we sail for the greatest event in the history of the world. By the time you receive this you will surely have heard some of the bare details. This is the greatest Armada that ever was formed. A colossal feat of organisation; the product of years of planning and hard work.

Pirrie’s letter remained unfinished.

For his “gallantry, leadership and determination” on D-Day Pirrie was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches. His citation stated that he performed his task with great skill, and “his conduct and bearing greatly encouraged his men”.

Pirrie was one of thousands of Australians who served within the British and Commonwealth forces on D-Day and throughout the Normandy campaign. On this day of days, Richard Pirrie made the ultimate sacrifice. Pirrie’s body was
unrecovered, and his name is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial which lists the names of 15,993 sailors of the British Commonwealth who were lost at sea.

His name is listed here on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with around 40,000 Australians killed in the Second World War. There is no photograph of Pirrie 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 Sub-Lieutenant Richard Pirrie, and all of those Australians – as well as our Allies and brothers in arms – who gave their lives during the Second World War in the hope for a better world.