The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Captain Emile Frank Verlaine Dechaineux, HMAS Australia (II), Second World War

Place Asia: Philippines, Leyte
Accession Number PAFU2014/400.01
Collection type Film
Object type Last Post film
Physical description 16:9
Maker Australian War Memorial
Place made Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell
Date made 21 October 2014
Access Open
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Description

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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on Captain Emile Frank Verlaine Dechaineux, HMAS Australia (II), Second World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

Captain Emile Frank Verlaine Dechaineux, HMAS Australia (II)
DOW 21 October 1944
Photograph: 106692

Story delivered 21 October 2014

Today we remember Captain Emile Frank Verlaine Dechaineux DSC, who died along with 29 of the ship’s company of the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia (II) in 1944.

Emile “Dishy” Dechaineux was born on 3 October 1902 in Launceston, Tasmania, to Lucien and Ella Dechaineux. In 1907 Belgian-born Lucien became art master for the Tasmanian Department of Education and the family moved to Hobart. Ella died in 1908, and Lucien later remarried.

Emile Dechaineux joined the Royal Australian Navy on 31 January 1915, two months after his 13th birthday. He spent four years at the Royal Australian Naval College at Jarvis Bay on the New South Wales south coast, and in January 1920 was posted as midshipman to the battlecruiser HMAS Australia (I). Nine months later he served in the destroyer HMAS Anzac (I), and the following year was sent to Britain for further training with the Royal Navy.

While serving in the battleship HMS Valiant in 1922, Dechaineux’s strong character impressed his captain, who described the 19-year-old as able to “take charge well and do the right thing”. He was made sub-lieutenant in December and lieutenant in 1924.

Like many naval officers of the period, Dechaineux spent several years in Britain on loan to the Royal Navy. Promoted to lieutenant commander in 1932, he became the squadron torpedo officer in the heavy cruiser HMAS Canberra (I). On 20 November 1936 Dechaineux married Mary Harbottle in Hobart. The couple had a daughter and a son, who later became a career naval officer like his father, achieving the rank of commodore.

While attending the Royal Navy Staff College in 1937 Dechaineux was made commander and went on to work in the Admiralty. Following the outbreak of war with Germany, in 1940 Dechaineux briefly commanded the sloop HMS Egret. When the British Expeditionary Force was evacuated from France he temporarily commanded the destroyer HMS Vivacious and conducted five trips to the continent to evacuate British troops. In August he took command of HMS Eglinton, hunting German E-boats in the North Sea, and for this he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Dechaineux returned to Australia in late 1941. In November 1942 became the captain of HMAS Warramunga (I), and four months later commanded a task group of Australian and American destroyers. For much of the year Warramunga was kept busy supporting a series of American amphibious landings on New Britain, New Guinea, and the Admiralty Islands. Dechaineux was promoted to captain on the last day of the year.

In March 1944 Dechaineux became captain of Australia (II), where he continued to impress both his superiors and subordinates. That October American forces landed on Leyte Island in the Philippines. The Japanese fiercely opposed every phase of the offensive, and during the morning of the 21st Australia was hit by a Japanese dive bomber. The aircraft crashed into Australia’s foremast, causing an explosion and a fire on the bridge. There were nearly 100 casualties, with many men suffering terrible burns, and Dechaineux was mortally wounded. An able seaman recalled that Dechaineux kept asking:

‘Look after them.’ ‘Just how serious are the injuries?’ … That’s all he was interested in … He died later in the day … He never uttered a moan or a groan. He was an outstanding person.

That night Dechaineux was buried at sea. He was 42. In all, 30 officers and ratings were killed or died of wounds, and 62 others were wounded. The United States posthumously awarded Dechaineux the Legion of Merit. The citation reads in part:

Directing his command with superb seamanship and great professional skill, Captain Dechaineux participated in vital and hazardous operations … fighting his ship valiantly in support of our landing in the Philippines.

In 2001 the RAN’s Collins-class submarine HMAS Dechaineux was commissioned in the captain’s memory. Dechaineux is also listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 other Australians from the Second World War.

We now remember Captain Emile Frank Verlaine Dechaineux and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

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