The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX4614) Private Thomas Kennedy Shiel, 2/3rd Battalion, Second AIF, Second World War.

Place Oceania: New Guinea1, Aitape
Accession Number AWM2016.2.229
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 16 August 2016
Access Open
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
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.
Description

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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (NX4614) Private Thomas Kennedy Shiel, 2/3rd Battalion, Second AIF, Second World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

NX4614 Private Thomas Kennedy Shiel, 2/3rd Battalion, Second AIF
Drowned 27 January 1945
Photograph: 066399

Story delivered 16 August 2016

Today we pay tribute to Private Thomas Kennedy Shiel, who was killed on active service during the Second World War.

Born in Yass on 5 February 1920, Thomas Shiel was the son of John Horace Shiel and Elisabeth Shiel. He was working as a labourer when the Second World War broke out, and was among of the first wave of volunteers for the Second Australian Imperial Force when he enlisted on 11 October 1939.

Posted to the 2/3rd Battalion, Shiel commenced training at Ingleburn Camp in November, and embarked for overseas service with the first contingent on 10 January 1940. The battalion spent the rest of the year training in Egypt and Palestine before taking in Australia’s first campaign of the war in Libya, where it was involved in the attack on Bardia and Tobruk in January 1941.

In March the battalion left with the rest of the 6th Division for Greece, where it took part in the disastrous Allied campaign in the face of a swift German advance. In June and July 1941 the 2/3rd took part in the campaign in Syria and Lebanon, remaining in Syria as part of the garrison force until January 1942.

Following Japan’s entry into the war in December 1941 the 6th Division was called back from the Middle East. The 2/3rd left in March 1942, and before returning to Australia spent several months as part of the garrison forces on Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka). It first went into action against the Japanese along the Kokoda Trail, and participated in the bloody beachhead battles. It fought major engagements at Eora Creek in October, Oivi in November, and on the Sanananda Track in November and December.

Shiel’s battalion spent 1943 and 1944 training in northern Queensland, and in October 1944 was sent with the 6th Division to the north coast of New Guinea to destroy the Japanese forces remaining in the Aitape–Wewak area.

For several days in late January torrential rain caused severe flooding to Danmap River. Rising and raging floodwaters washed away bridges, boulders, and trees. On the night of 26 January the river rose six metres above its banks, and the machine-gun platoon in which Private Shiel served found itself on a newly formed island in the floodwaters. The men clambered to what high ground there was before retreating to the treetops.

The platoon commander, Lieutenant G.H. Fearnside, a veteran of Tobruk and El Alamein, found this night the most terrifying experience of his life. He recounted:
"Some were killed outright in that mad onslaught of frenzied water and green timber; others were swirled beneath the press of timber and drowned; others were knocked unconscious and their bodies snatched and sent racing downstream, turning over and over, like otters."

The following day the survivors made their way to the safety of the banks gathered in the battalion area. Seven men of the machine-gun company failed to report, having drowned in the floodwaters. One of the seven was Private Thomas Shiel. He was 24 years old.

Shiel’s name is listed upon the Lae Memorial at the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Lae, Papua New Guinea. He is also commemorated on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 other Australians who died 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 Private Thomas Kennedy Shiel, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section

  • Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX4614) Private Thomas Kennedy Shiel, 2/3rd Battalion, Second AIF, Second World War. (video)