The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX30222) Gunner Julius Montague Curr, 3rd Anti–Tank Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, 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 Meredith Duncan, the story for this day was on (NX30222) Gunner Julius Montague Curr, 3rd Anti–Tank Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, Second AIF. Second World War.

Gunner Julius Montague Curr, 3rd Anti–Tank Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, Second AIF
KIA 27 July 1942
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 3 June 2016

Today we pay tribute to Gunner Julius Montague Curr, who was killed on active service during the Second World War.

Born in Warwick in the Southern Downs region of south-east Queensland on 8 July 1919, Julius Curr was the only son of Charles Montague Curr and Mary Theresa Curr’s six children. Charles was a pastoralist who ran several large properties in Queensland and northern New South Wales. Following his death in 1919, Mary took up residence at “Buckie Station” near Moree. There the young Julius Curr worked as a station hand.

On 11 June 1940 Curr enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force. Given the rank of gunner, Curr was posted to the 3rd Anti-Tank Regiment of the Royal Australian Artillery. In November 1940 he embarked from Sydney for overseas service, arriving in the Middle East that December.

The regiment became part of the Australian 9th Division. Curr served with his regiment at Tobruk, where the 9th Division formed part the British and Commonwealth garrison during the siege until the end of 1941. Following the division’s relief from forces at Tobruk, it travelled to Syria and then Lebanon for rest, training, and garrison duties.

By July 1942 the war in North Africa had become critical for the British forces. The Germans and Italians had reached El Alamein in Egypt, about 70 miles from Alexandra. Consequently, the 9th Division was rushed to the front.

As part of the first battle of El Alamein, Curr was among the gunners of the 2/3rd Anti–Tank supporting the 2/28th Battalion in the attack upon Ruin Ridge on 27 July 1942. The battalion and its supporting units
suffered heavily, with 65 officers and men killed or wounded, and nearly 500 captured as prisoners of war. From those who participated in the attack, only 92 men remained.

Gunner Julius Curr was among those killed. He was 23 years old. His body is buried in the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery at El Alamein, Egypt.

Curr’s name is listed here on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Gunner Julius Montague Curr, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the
hope of a better world.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section