The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (PM1325) Chief Yeoman of Signals Stephen Lamont, 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (PM1325) Chief Yeoman of Signals Stephen Lamont, Royal Australian Navy, Second World War.

PM1325 Chief Yeoman of Signals Stephen Lamont, Royal Australian Navy
Died at sea 1 July 1942
Story delivered 30 June 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Chief Yeoman of Signals Stephen Lamont.

Stephen Lamont was born on the 18th of October 1898 in Colerone, Ireland. Little is known of his early life. He arrived in Australia on 13 February 1922, and three years later, on 6 July 1925, married Irme O’Farrell at St Peter and Pauls Church in South Melbourne. At this time, he was working as a barman, and living at the Grand View Hotel in Fairfield.

With the announcement of the Second World War, he was mobilised for duty with the Royal Australian Navy as Chief Yeoman of Signals.

After training at HMAS Cerberus, the Navy’s training establishment in Western Port Bay near Melbourne, and a few months with the auxiliary minesweeper HMAS Orara, Lamont spent two years in Brisbane at the Alice Street depot which had been commissioned as HMAS Penguin, but which was renamed HMAS Brisbane in August 1940 to better reflect its locality.

In 1940 he was selected for coast watching duty at Anir Island, east of New Ireland, embarking in April to take his post.

With Japan’s entry into the war, the island screen of coast watchers became the front line. Communicating by radio using code to report on hostile movements and items of intelligence value, it was a lonely and precarious existence. More than 600 coast watchers served in Australia, New Guinea and the Pacific Islands during the Second World War, with their numbers including members of the RAAF, AIF, RAN, US Marines and US Army, the British Solomon Islands Protectorate Defence Force and some civilians. The 38 coast watchers who died during the Second World War are hard to identify, as their names are listed with their operational units rather than being listed as coast watchers.

Japanese bombing of New Britain began in early January 1942, and increased in intensity. Lark Force, the Australian Army formation established for service in New Britain and New Ireland, withdrew from Rabaul, and waited on the western shores of Blanche Bay for the inevitable Japanese landings.

These began in the early hours of the next day. By 9 am, in the face of communication failures and overwhelming Japanese strength, the Australian defence had lost cohesion and Colonel Scanlan ordered a withdrawal on the basis of “every man for himself”. Unprepared for retreat, chaos ensued, and Lark Force disintegrated.

Over the following days, groups ranging from company-strength down to pairs and individuals sought escape along the north and south coasts. Some found small boats and escaped, others were picked up by larger vessels operating from New Guinea. Around 400 made it to Australia, but about 160 were captured by the Japanese while trying to escape and were massacred at Tol Plantation. Another 836 were interned as prisoners of war.

Lamont was captured near the Warangoi River, after volunteering to remain with sick members of a party who evacuated from the coast.

Early in the morning of 22 June 1942, prisoners captured in New Britain were ordered to board the Montevideo Maru, which sailed unescorted for Hainan Island, keeping to the east of the Philippines in an effort to avoid Allied submarines.

Eight days into the voyage, the Montevideo Maru was spotted by the American submarine USS Sturgeon which manoeuvred into a position to fire its four stern torpedoes. Survivors from the Japanese crew reported two torpedoes striking the vessel followed by an explosion in the oil tank in the aft hold.

The ship sank in as little as 11 minutes. Although the Japanese crew was ordered to abandon ship, it does not appear they made any attempt to assist the prisoners to do likewise. The ship’s lifeboats were launched, but all capsized and one suffered severe damage.

More than 1,050 men aboard the Montevideo Maru lost their lives in the tragedy. Among the dead was Stephen Lamont, who was 43 years old.

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 Chief Yeoman of Signals Stephen Lamont, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard (with Erica Bozsoky and Jennifer Surtees)
Editor, Military History Section