Place | Oceania: Australia, New South Wales, Wagga Wagga, Wagga Wagga War Cemetery |
---|---|
Accession Number | AWM2018.1.1.362 |
Collection type | Film |
Object type | Last Post film |
Physical description | 16:9 |
Maker |
Australian War Memorial |
Place made | Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell |
Date made | 29 December 2018 |
Access | Open |
Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial![]() |
Copying Provisions | Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction. |
The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (QX63309) Sapper Frank Wilfred Platt, 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers, 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 Micahel Kelly, the story for this day was on (QX63309) Sapper Frank Wilfred Platt, 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers, Second World War.
Film order formQX63309 Sapper Frank Wilfred Platt, 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers
Killed in training accident 21 May 1945
Story delivered 29 December 2018
Today we remember and pay tribute to Sapper Frank Wilfred Platt.
Born in Brisbane on 27 September 1924, Frank Platt was the son of Frank and Martha Platt. He attended school at Brisbane Grammar on a scholarship and after graduation studied bookkeeping and arithmetic at university while working as a clerk.
He was mobilised for the militia in October 1942, and volunteered for the Second Australian Imperial Force in February 1945. In May, Platt was posted to the 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers, at the large Australian Army training base at Kapooka. However, in the afternoon of 21 May 1945, tragedy struck.
Crowded in a dugout – during a routine demolition training exercise on the preparation of hand charges – were two groups. One consisted of 22 trainees and two instructors; there was also a smaller squad of three men and one instructor. Inside the dugout were 110 pounds of explosives that had been stored there for day’s training exercise. In circumstances that remain unknown to this day, the explosives ignited. In the explosion, 24 men were killed instantly, two died of injuries shortly afterwards, and two more were severely injured.
Frank Platt was one of those killed in the accident. He was 20 years old.
A mass funeral was held for the men in Wagga Wagga on 24 May. Thousands of people lined the route of the funeral parade. The 26 flag-draped coffins were carried on four army trucks. The cortege included over 100 military vehicles carrying members of the Army and Air Force. The dead were buried in the Wagga Wagga War Cemetery.
Platt’s name – along with the other 25 who were killed in the accident – 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 Sapper Frank Wilfred Platt, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.
Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section
-
Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (QX63309) Sapper Frank Wilfred Platt, 1st Training Battalion, Royal Australian Engineers, Second World War. (video)