The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX26967) Private Charles William Sullivan, Headquarters 8th Division Australian Army Service Corps, attached 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (NX26967) Private Charles William Sullivan, Headquarters 8th Division Australian Army Service Corps, attached 2/10th Field Ambulance, Second AIF, Second World War.

NX26967 Private Charles William Sullivan, Headquarters 8th Division Australian Army Service Corps, attached 2/10th Field Ambulance, Second AIF
KIA 8 February 1942
No photograph in collection – family supplied image

Story delivered 21 December 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Charles William Sullivan, who was killed on active service with the Second Australian Imperial Force in 1942.

Born in the Sydney suburb of Balmain on 16 December 1918, Charles William Sullivan was the son of John and Mary Margaret Sullivan of Manly. In June 1940 he enlisted in Manly for the Second Australian Imperial Force. At this time Britain was facing its greatest peril following the fall of France, and enlistments in the Second Australian Imperial Force soared.

Private Sullivan was posted to the headquarters of the 8th Division Australian Army Service Corps. In July 1941 he embarked in Sydney for overseas service, arriving in Singapore the following month.

Following Japan’s entry into the war in December 1941 the Malayan peninsula was invaded by Japanese force, and from mid-January 1942 the units of the 8th Division were involved in fierce fighting on the Malayan peninsula.

By the beginning of February the British and Commonwealth forces had been pushed back to the island of Singapore, and on the night of 8 February Japanese forces began landing on Singapore Island. Units of the 8th Division bore the brunt of the landings on the north-western area of Singapore, and heavy casualties were inflicted upon either side.

At some point on the day of the Japanese landing Private Charles Sullivan was killed in action while attached to the 2/10th Field Ambulance. His body is buried in the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery at Kranji, Singapore. He was 21 years old.

Private Charles William Sullivan was one of almost 1,800 Australians killed in the month-long campaign in Malaya and Singapore, and one of almost 900 Australians killed over just one week of fighting on Singapore Island.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with the names of some 40,000 other Australians who died serving 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 Charles William Sullivan, and all of those Australians who gave their lives during the Second World War.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section