The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX193911) Private Clarence Robert Stroud, 25th Battalion, 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 Michael Kelly, the story for this day was on (NX193911) Private Clarence Robert Stroud, 25th Battalion, Second World War.

NX193911 Private Clarence Robert Stroud, 25th Battalion
KIA 5 April 1945
Photograph: P05940.001

Story delivered 5 April 2015

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the battle of Slater’s Knoll in southern Bougainville. This was the major Japanese counter-attack to the controversial Australian offensive to clear the island. The Australians successfully withstood this attack and went on to fight a slow, gruelling campaign to liberate Bougainville. Ultimately, the II Australian Corps suffered more than 500 men killed. This afternoon we remember one of those men, Private Clarence Robert Stroud.

Clarence Stroud was born on 7 September 1919 in Dubbo, New South Wales, the son of George and Evelyn Stroud. One of eight children, Clarence was educated in Dubbo. After school he worked with his father as a painting contractor until he was called up for the Militia in April 1940, aged 20.

Posted to the Militia’s 54th Battalion in Bathurst, Stroud marched into camp in mid-March 1941. Over the next year or so the battalion moved around New South Wales, and in July 1942 travelled to Melbourne, where it embarked on a Dutch merchant ship for Fremantle, Western Australia.

The battalion spent the next year performing garrison duties in various locations around Western Australia. Many soldiers struggled with the monotony and boredom of routine training, guard duties, and labouring. On one occasion in late July 1943 Stroud was arrested late one night by the police for urinating in a public place. He was fined three pounds and two shillings.

The 54th Battalion remained in Western Australia until March 1944, when it moved to Kairi on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland. In June Stroud was one of 81 soldiers from the battalion transferred to the Militia’s 25th Battalion of the 7th Brigade.

The 7th Brigade had already fought with distinction in Papua in 1942, participating in the Australian victory at Milne Bay against a Japanese amphibious landing. In July 1944 it returned, with Stroud, to New Guinea, garrisoning the Madang area before being transferred to Torokina on Bougainville in November.

The 25th served in both the central and southern sectors on Bougainville, capturing Pearl Ridge on 30 December. Two photographs in the Memorial’s collection show Stroud’s section receiving instructions immediately before this attack. Stroud can be seen, face darkened with camouflage cream, carrying a rifle and a spare barrel for a Bren light machine-gun.

In January 1945 the 25th Battalion joined the 7th Brigade’s advance to the Puriata River. Leaving from Motupena Point, the battalion followed the coast to Toko and headed inland to Slater’s Knoll. On the way one of its companies made a successful bayonet charge at Kero Creek, and three days later the 25th’s Corporal Reginald Rattey was awarded a Victoria Cross for capturing a series of Japanese posts. However, at Slater’s Knoll the battalion would bear the brunt of the Japanese counter-attack.

The Japanese offensive opened on 26 March with an artillery barrage, followed by assaults the next day on the battalion’s forward companies. By 31 March the Australians were besieged. If not for the relief column led by the AIF’s Matilda tanks, the infantry would have been overrun.

The 25th Battalion dug in on Slater’s Knoll. The Japanese hit the feature just before dawn on 5 April, rushing headlong into barbed wire and ferocious machine-gun and rifle fire. Fighting continued throughout the morning, and just before 1 pm two Matildas reached the knoll. Again, the tanks’ firepower proved decisive. Individually and in small groups, the Japanese broke. Mopping-up continued for about an hour, but the battle was over.

All told, between 28 March and 5 April 620 Japanese dead were counted. The 25th Battalion lost fewer than 20 men in the same period. Seven were killed on the last day, including Stroud. He was 25 years old.

He is buried in the Bomana War Cemetery in Port Moresby, and his name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 Australians killed in the Second World War. His photograph is displayed today 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 Clarence Robert Stroud and all of those Australians who gave their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Karl James
Military History Section

Sources:
National Archives of Australia, service record, Clarence Robert Stroud.

54th Battalion War Diary, Australian War Memorial: AWM52, 8/3/92.

“Dubbo soldiers killed in action with AIF”, Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate, 10 April 1945.

Karl James, The hard slog: Australians in the Bougainville campaign, 1944–45, Cambridge University Press, 2012.