Place | Oceania: Australia, New South Wales, Wagga Wagga, Kapooka |
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Accession Number | PAFU2014/415.01 |
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 | 2 November 2014 |
Access | Open |
Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial![]() |
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. |
The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (SX34069) Sapper Ivan Walter Thomas Merritt, 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 Dennis Stockman, the story for this day was on (SX34069) Sapper Ivan Walter Thomas Merritt, 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers, Second World War.
Film order formSX34069 Sapper Ivan Walter Thomas Merritt, 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers
Accidentally killed 21 May 1945
No photograph in collection
Story delivered 2 November 2014
Today we pay tribute to Sapper Ivan Walter Thomas Merritt, who was killed in the service of the Royal Australian Engineers in 1945.
Born in Kaniva in western Victoria on 13 August 1918, Ivan Merritt was the eldest son of Walter Thomas John Merritt and Olive Elizabeth Blanch Merritt’s seven children.
On 5 June 1941 Merritt became engaged to Dorothy Joyce Hayward. They wed a year later at Baptist Church in Mitcham, South Australia. Prior to joining the army Ivan worked as a truck driver for the Water Supply Department at Crystal Brook.
In February 1945 Merritt volunteered for the Second Australian Imperial Force. Two of his younger brothers also served in the AIF. Shortly after his enlistment, in May 1945, Merritt was posted to the 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers, at the 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 stored for the day’s training exercise. In circumstances that remain unknown to this day, the explosives ignited, and 24 men were killed instantly. Two died of injuries shortly afterwards, and two more were severely injured.
Merritt was one of those killed in the accident, dying of injuries at the scene shortly after the explosion. He was 26 years old.
Three days later a mass funeral was held for the men in Wagga Wagga. Thousands of people lined the route of the funeral parade. The 26 flag-draped coffins were carried on four army trucks, and 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.
Not long after Ivan’s death, Dorothy Merritt gave birth to a son, Geoffrey Ivan Merritt.
For years afterward on the anniversary of his death, Merritt’s family would post messages in the Adelaide Advertiser in his memory. From his wife and young son, the message read, “In love he walks beside us – ever remembered.”
Merritt’s name – along with the other 25 killed who were killed in the accident – is listed here on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with around more than 102,000 Australians who have been killed in war.
This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Sapper Ivan Walter Thomas Merritt, and all of those Australians who gave their lives during the Second World War in the hope for a better world.
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Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (SX34069) Sapper Ivan Walter Thomas Merritt, 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers, Second World War (video)