The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX38425) Private William Claude Ney, 2/10th Field Ambulance, Second AIF, 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 (NX38425) Private William Claude Ney, 2/10th Field Ambulance, Second AIF, Second World War.

NX38425 Private William Claude Ney, 2/10th Field Ambulance, Second AIF
DOD 2 May 1945
Photograph: P03914.025

Story delivered 26 January 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private William Claude Ney, who died on active service in 1945.

Born in Gulgong, New South Wales, on 5 October 1916, William Ney was the son of James and Alice Ney. After leaving school, William worked as a labourer and farmhand before his enlistment in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 14 June 1941.

He was posted to the 2/10th Field Ambulance, attached to the 27th Brigade, 8th Australian Division. On 30 July 1941 Ney embarked for overseas service, arriving in Singapore in August. From there his unit encamped in Malaya.

Following Japan’s entry into the war in December 1941, the 8th Division fought in the defence of the Malayan peninsula. From mid-January the Australian forces became heavily engaged in the fighting, and Ney’s 2/10th Field Ambulance were in the thick of the action, dealing with the high number of casualties. But on 15 February 1942, after weeks of fierce fighting, Singapore fell to the Japanese, and Ney became one of 45,000 Australian and British troops captured in the surrender.

At first Ney was among the tens of thousands of Australian and British prisoners of war at the Changi prisoner-of-war camp; but in July 1942, as a member of B Force, Ney was one of 1,500 Australian and British prisoners transported to Sandakan in Borneo.

Some 2,500 Australian and British prisoners were taken to Sandakan, where they suffered great atrocities. By the end of the war in August 1945 only six prisoners of war, all Australians, had survived. Ney was listed as having died of illness on 2 May 1945. He was 28 years old.

Ney has no known grave, but is listed on the memorial at the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery in Labuan. His is one of the many there whose gravestone is simply inscribed: “A soldier of the 1939 to 1945 war, known unto God.”

Ney’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. His photograph is displayed beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private William Claude Ney, and all those Australians who gave their lives in the service of their country.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section