The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX49374) Private Charles Stanley Buchanan, 2/19th 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (NX49374) Private Charles Stanley Buchanan, 2/19th Battalion, 2nd AIF, Second World War.

NX49374 Private Charles Stanley Buchanan, 2/19th Battalion, 2nd AIF
KIA 15 February 1942
Photograph: P07354.001

Story delivered 15 February 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Charles Stanley Buchanan.

Born on 22 September 1924, Charles Buchanan – known as “Chikka” – was the eldest son and the second of five children born to Roy Stanley Buchanan and Pearl Ilene Buchanan. He had three sisters, as well as a younger brother who was born after he died.

Buchanan’s father was a veteran of the First World War. Wounded during the Third Battle of Ypres in October 1917, Roy was blinded in one eye. He was unable to enlist for service in the Second World War, and young Charles, determined to help out, lied about his age in order to do so. He enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 18 October 1941, having only just turned 17, but gave his age to the recruiting officers as 19.

Following Japan’s entry into the war in December 1941 Buchanan was sent to Malaya and posted to the 8th Division’s 2/19th Battalion. From mid-January 1942 the division was involved in fierce fighting against the Japanese forces on the Malay Peninsula. By the beginning of February the British and Commonwealth forces had been pushed back to the island of Singapore, and Japanese forces began landing on Singapore Island. On 15 February, the final day of fighting before the ceasefire was called, Buchanan was killed in action. He was 17 years old.

Buchanan 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.

Reported as missing in action, it would be some years before the Buchanan family was officially informed of Charles’s death. While still listed as missing, his younger brother Clyde was born in December 1943.

Buchanan’s body was not recovered from the battlefield. His name is listed on the Singapore Memorial at the Kranji War Cemetery, and on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with the names of some 40,000 Australians who died 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 Stanley Buchanan, and all of those Australians who gave their lives for their nation.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section