The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (23873) Able Seaman Donald Ignatius Ross, HMAS Yarra, Royal Australian Navy, 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 Michael Kelly , the story for this day was on The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (23873) Able Seaman Donald Ignatius Ross, HMAS Yarra, Royal Australian Navy, Second World War.

23873 Able Seaman Donald Ignatius Ross, HMAS Yarra, Royal Australian Navy
KIA 4 March 1942
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 4 March 2017

Today we pay tribute to Able Seaman Donald Ignatius Ross.

Donald Ross was born on 14 November 1920 in the Melbourne suburb of Coburg to Charles and Agnes Ross. He was educated at Our Lady of Lourdes in Thornbury, and at Christian Brothers’ College Abbotsford.

Ross enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy following the outbreak of the Second World War, and following training at HMAS Cerberus was posted to the crew of the sloop HMAS Yarra in June 1940. After spending the first year of the war in Australian waters, in August 1940 Yarra joined Red Sea Force at the port of Aden. Over the next year the ship took part in patrols in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, including campaigns in Iran and Iraq.

In November 1941 Yarra took part in convoy duty in the Mediterranean, helping to escort convoys bringing supplies to the besieged garrison at Tobruk. When war broke out in the Pacific in December 1941 the Yarra was sent to Java for escort duties between Batavia and Singapore. In February 1942, while under attack, it rescued 1,800 survivors from the sunken troopship Empress of Asia.

On 4 March Yarra was escorting a small convoy of three ships from Java to Fremantle when it was intercepted by five Japanese warships. Despite being outgunned and outranged, Yarra placed itself between the enemy and the ships in its convoy and prepared to attack.

A prisoner of the Japanese watched as Yarra was engaged, later writing that by the time he got on deck to witness the battle:
Yarra was the only ship left afloat, and we could see flames and a great deal of smoke. The two destroyers were circling Yarra which appeared stationary, and we repouring fire into her. She was still firing back as we could see odd gun flashes … the last we saw of Yarra was a high column of smoke, but we were vividly impressed by her fight.

Of Yarra’s 151 crew 138 were killed in the action or died on the life rafts. First reported missing, Able Seaman Donald Ross was later determined to have been among those killed. His body was never recovered. He was 21 years old.

The names of those who died are commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Britain, dedicated to the thousands of British and Commonwealth sailors who lost their lives at sea or who have no known grave.

Donald Ross’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 Able Seaman Donald Ignatius Ross, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section