The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX47103) Sergeant Robert Graham, 3rd Reserve Motor Transport Company, Second Australian Imperial Force, 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 Joanne Smedley, the story for this day was on (NX47103) Sergeant Robert Graham, 3rd Reserve Motor Transport Company, Second Australian Imperial Force, Second World War.

NX47103 Sergeant Robert Graham, 3rd Reserve Motor Transport Company, Second Australian Imperial Force
Died at sea 12 September 1944

Story delivered 9 September 2017

Today we pay tribute to Sergeant Robert Graham.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 20 February 1904, Robert Graham was the son of Alexander and Mary Graham.

After moving to Australia, Graham lived in Newcastle, served with the New South Wales Fire Brigade, and worked as a labourer. He married Julia Graham and the couple had a daughter, also named Julia.

On 11 July 1940, at the age of 36, Graham enlisted in the Second AIF. He had previously served in the British Army, in the Grenadier Guards.

He was posted to the 3rd Reserve Motor Transport and on 10 April 1941, embarked for overseas service. Arriving in Singapore the following month, his unit joined the 8th Australian Division.

Following Japan’s entry in the war in early December 1941, Allied forces on the Malayan peninsula were pushed back against a rapid advance.

On 6 February 1942, two days before the Japanese landed on Singapore island, Graham’s unit was evacuated from Singapore, arriving in Java five days later. Here they joined other Australian units to form “Black Force”. Following the capitulation of Allied forces on Java in March, Graham was one of 22,000 Australians to become a prisoner of the Japanese.

At the end of 1942, Graham was transported to Burma as part of the large workforce being assembled by the Japanese to build the Burma-Thailand Railway. Following the completion of the railway, he was transported from Thailand to Singapore, where, along with more than 2,000 Australian and British prisoners of war, he embarked upon the ship the Rakuyo Maru, to be transported to Japan.

The Rakuyo Maru (with 1,318 Australian and British prisoners of war aboard) and Kachidoki Maru (carrying 900 British prisoners of war) were part of a convoy carrying mostly raw materials that left Singapore for Japan on 6 September 1944. The prisoners were all survivors of the Burma-Thailand Railway.

Less than a week later the convoy was attacked by American submarines in the South China Sea. Rakuyo Maru was sunk by USS Sealion II and Kachidoki Maru by USS Pampanito. Prisoners able to evacuate the ships spent the following days in life rafts or clinging to wreckage in open water. About 150 Australian and British survivors were rescued by American submarines. A further 500 were picked up by Japanese destroyers and continued the journey to Japan. Those not rescued perished at sea. A total of 1,559 Australian and British prisoners of war were killed in the incident, all missing at sea (1,159 from Rakuyo Maru, 400 from Kachidoki Maru). The total number of Australians killed was 543.

Graham was one of the missing. He was 40 years old.

Today his name is commemorated on the Labuan Memorial in Malaysia.

His name is listed 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 Sergeant Robert Graham, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section