The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX67776) Corporal Noel Mark Bacon, 8 Division Provost Company, 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 Chris Widenbar, the story for this day was on (NX67776) Corporal Noel Mark Bacon, 8 Division Provost Company, Second World War.

NX67776 Corporal Noel Mark Bacon, 8 Division Provost Company
Died of illness 22 October 1943
Story delivered 16 October 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal Noel Mark Bacon.

Noel Bacon was born on 24 December 1917 in the Western Sydney suburb of Guildford, the second son of Annie and John Bacon ¬– who at one point was Mayor of Holroyd.

Noel grew up to be well known in local football and cricket circles, and found employment as a motor driver.

He was serving in the Militia when the Second World War broke out, and was locally acknowledged as “holding the record for the speed with which he went overseas after enlistment”. Bacon enlisted on 23 January 1941, at the age of 23, and within days had marched out to join the 8th Division Provost Corps at Dubbo. Within the week he had embarked for overseas service.

Reaching Malaya, Bacon was detached to the Australian Army Service Corps Malacca in February and again in March, on the second occasion being appointed acting corporal. Rejoining his unit in May, he was confirmed as corporal in July.

As a military provost, Bacon was part of a unit responsible for battlefield traffic control, security duties, prisoner-of-war handling, the investigation of service offences, maintaining discipline and running military prisons.

As war broke out in the Pacific, Japanese forces invaded Malaya. Indian and British units in northern Malaya initially provided stiff resistance, but were forced to withdraw in the face of the speed, ferocity and surprise of the Japanese attack.

Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaya, was taken on 11 January 1942. Three days later, parts of the Australian 8th Division went into action south of Kuala Lumpur. The 2/30th Battalion had some early success at the Gemencheh River Bridge, carrying out a large-scale ambush which destroyed a Japanese battalion. The 22nd Brigade fought a series of delaying actions as Allied forces retreated towards Singapore.

On 31 January, British and Australian forces withdrew across the causeway that separated Singapore from Malaya. Barely a week later, Japanese forces attacked across the Johor Strait.

When Singapore was surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February, Bacon and his comrades in the 8th Division were initially imprisoned at Selerang Barracks at Changi. But from May onwards the Japanese began sending groups of prisoners of war for labouring work elsewhere in Asia and the Pacific.

Bacon became part of A Force, a group of 3,000 men who were ultimately bound to work on the Burma¬–Thailand Railway. On 14 May group was led from Changi prison to Singapore harbour for transport to Burma. A third were placed aboard the Celebes Maru and the remainder were loaded aboard the Toyohashi Maru.

The journey aboard these “hell-ships” was the first taste of the gruelling life that awaited them. Those aboard the Celebes Maru were housed in overcrowded sheep pens. No prisoner arrived at his worksite healthier than when he left Singapore, and many finished their journey sick, exhausted and malnourished.

Heading up the West Coast of Malaya, they arrived at Thanbyuzayat in Burma, the starting point for the construction of the Burma–Thailand railway from the Burma end.

The men were starved of food and deprived of medicine, and were forced to work impossibly long hours in remote unhealthy locations. By the time the railway was completed in October 1943 approximately 13,000 prisoners of war, including more than 2,600 Australians, had died … as well as estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians,.

Ravaged by cholera, malaria, dysentery, tropical ulcers and starvation, A Force was abandoned and its members were dispersed to various other camps.

Noel Bacon was reported as having died of dysentery on 22 October 1943 at a camp in the port city of Moulmein, 65 kilometres north of Thanbyuzayat. He was 25 years old.

The graves of those who died during the construction and maintenance of the railway were transferred from camp burial grounds. Today Bacon’s remains lie buried at Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery under the epitaph chosen by his grieving family: “His duty fearlessly and nobly done, ever remembered.”

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 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 Corporal Noel Mark Bacon, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section