The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX40395) Acting Corporal Donald William Atkinson, 2/18th Battalion, 2nd 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on (NX40395) Acting Corporal Donald William Atkinson, 2/18th Battalion, 2nd AIF, Second World War.

NX40395 Acting Corporal Donald William Atkinson, 2/18th Battalion, 2nd AIF
KIA 8 February 1942
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 30 August 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Acting Corporal Donald William Atkinson, who was killed on active service during the Second World War.

Born in Come-by-Chance, New South Wales, on 20 February 1906, Donald Atkinson was the son of Ernest and Tomima Elizabeth Atkinson. He was schooled by correspondence with the Eton-Harrow Travelling School, and later worked as a station overseer.

Atkinson had a great love for fishing and shooting. He married Essie Muriel Evans in 1930. Together they had a son, Norman, who was ten years old when his father left for war.

It was his sense of duty which compelled Atkinson to enlist in the Second Australian Imperial Force in June 1940. At this time Britain was facing its greatest peril following the fall of France, and enlistments in the Second Australian Imperial Force were soaring. Atkinson was posted to the 2/18th Battalion of the 22nd Brigade as part of the Australian 8th Division. In February 1941 the 22nd Brigade embarked in Sydney for overseas service aboard the famous ocean liner-cum-troopship, the Queen Mary. On arriving in Singapore the 22nd Brigade joined the garrison forces in Malaya. The rest of 1941 was spent training and forming part of the British and Commonwealth garrison forces there.

With Japan’s entry into the war in December 1941 the Malayan peninsula was invaded by Japanese forces. From mid-January 1942 the units of the 8th Division were involved in fierce fighting. By the beginning of February the British and Commonwealth forces had been pushed back to Singapore, and Japanese forces began landing on the island. The 22nd Brigade bore the brunt of the landing in the north-west, and heavy casualties were inflicted upon either side.

On 8 February, the day of the Japanese landing on Singapore, Acting Corporal Atkinson was killed in action. He was 35 years old. He was one of almost 1,800 Australians killed in the month-long campaign in Malaya and Singapore, and one of almost 900 Australians killed in just one week of fighting on Singapore Island. His body is buried in the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery at Kranji, Singapore.

He had two brothers who also served, Harold and James. Like Donald, Harold served in the 2/18th Battalion, and became a prisoner of war following the fall of Singapore. Imprisoned in Changi, Harold survived the war. James served with the 2/7th Battalion, but died of illness in New Guinea in April 1945.

Donald Atkinson’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 others 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 Acting Corporal Donald William Atkinson, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Military History Section