Places | |
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Accession Number | AWM2016.2.139 |
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 | 18 May 2016 |
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 (NX68904) Private Leo McCarthy, 2/3rd Motor Ambulance Convoy Malaya, 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (NX68904) Private Leo McCarthy, 2/3rd Motor Ambulance Convoy Malaya, AIF, Second World War.
Film order formNX68904 Private Leo McCarthy, 2/3rd Motor Ambulance Convoy Malaya, AIF
DOD 2 March 1945
Photograph: P02467.857
Story delivered 18 May 2016
Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Leo McCarthy, who died during the Second World War.
Leo McCarthy was born in 1893 near Grenfell, New South Wales, to John Weeks McCarthy and Alice Florence Yeo. He was one of 14 children born to the couple.
McCarthy had been working as a blacksmith and wheelwright in Nowra when he enlisted in the First Australian Imperial Force on 10 November 1915. He was posted to the 19th Battalion, serving as a driver in the Australian Army Service Corps. In April 1916 he was sent to France, where he worked with the 1st Anzac Entrenching Battalion before being transferred to a supply column in 1917. He worked as a driver with the 6th Corps Troops Motor Transport Company until the end of the war, returning home to Australia in 1919.
On 27 January 1923 McCarthy married Adelina Woolley, and the two settled in Five Dock, New South Wales. They had one child, Betty.
When the Second World War broke out McCarthy was 46 years old and working as a driver and carpenter. Wishing to serve his country once more, he gave his age as 40, and on 4 March 1941 was taken on strength with the 2/3rd Motor Ambulance Convoy of the 8th Division. He arrived with his division in Singapore in late April, and worked as a motorcycle orderly and driver in Malaya until 1942.
Following Japan’s entry into the war the Malayan peninsula was invaded by Japanese forces and the 8th Division was involved in fierce fighting from mid-January 1942. On 15 February the Australians surrendered to the Japanese, and McCarthy was among the thousands who, overnight, became prisoners of war.
McCarthy was interned in the Changi prisoner-of-war camp, and was one of those prisoners taken to Sandakan, Borneo, as part of the working parties raised by the Japanese to build and expand new infrastructure there. Though initially bearable, conditions at Sandakan devolved into some of the worst experienced by prisoners of the Japanese. The men, including the sick, were forced at gunpoint to work on the construction of a military airstrip, and were often beaten by their captors. Illness and death ravaged the camp and food was scarce, and by January 1945 the prisoners were fending for themselves.
The completed airfield was soon destroyed by Allied aircraft bombing, and between January and March 1945 some 450 of the fittest prisoners were ordered to march west to Ranau – a distance of around 260 kilometres. All were suffering from malnutrition and some from disease.
The march was horrendous. The Japanese guards refused to let the prisoners rest, and those too sick or weak to continue were left behind to die. Leo McCarthy is believed to be among those who died during this march, probably near Paginatan, more than 40 kilometres from Ranau. He was reported as dying from illness on 2 March, 1945. He was 52 years old.
Of the 2,500 prisoners forced to march from Sandakan, only six survived to see the war’s end.
Prviate McCarthy’s older brother Norman later donated money and land to establish the Leo McCarthy Memorial Club at Smithfield RSL in New South Wales. His widow, Adelina, donated a piano belonging to her late husband.
Private McCarthy is commemorated on the memorial at the Labuan War Cemetery in Malaysia, and his name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 others from the Second World War. His photograph is displayed by 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 Leo McCarthy, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.
Christina Zissis
Editor, Military History Section
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Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX68904) Private Leo McCarthy, 2/3rd Motor Ambulance Convoy Malaya, AIF, Second World War. (video)