The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (VX38611) Acting Corporal Desmond Cecil Tully, 2/22nd Australian Infantry Battalion 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 (VX38611) Acting Corporal Desmond Cecil Tully, 2/22nd Australian Infantry Battalion Second World War.

VX38611 Acting Corporal Desmond Cecil Tully, 2/22nd Australian Infantry Battalion
Murdered 26 February 1942

Today we remember and pay tribute to Acting Corporal Desmond Tully.

Popularly known as “Des”, Desmond Cecil Tullywas born on 18 August 1918 in Wangaratta, Victoria, into the large family of Emily and Harcourt Tully.

Desmond’s father worked for the Lands Department, and the family eventually came to live in Benalla after postings in Melbourne and Wangaratta.

Desmond Tully was educated at St Joseph’s school Benalla, and afterwards worked as an assistant inspector of the Lands Settlement Branch, stationed at Strathbogie and Euroa.

Tully was a keen athlete, playing football with the Benalla All Blacks and Euroa United FC. He was also a keen cyclist, riding for the Euroa Club. In 1939, he had a serious accident during a race, breaking his collarbone and badly smashing his bicycle.

Tully enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force at Royal Park on 12 August 1940, a month before his 22nd birthday, and was posted to the 2/22nd Battalion. After a period of training at Trawool and Bonegilla, he left Sydney aboard the troopship Katoomba on 11 March 1941.

The 2/22nd Battalion arrived at Rabaul, the administrative centre of New Britain, a fortnight later. It combined with other Australian units and a local unit of the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles to form “Lark Force”.
Lark Force was responsible for protecting nearby airfields and a seaplane base at Rabaul, as well as providing early warning of Japanese movements through the islands to Australia’s north.

Lark Force spent the next few months were constructing defences and training for operation in a tropical environment. During this time, Tully was appointed lance corporal and classified as a driver mechanic. On 4 September 1941 he was promoted to acting corporal.

Japanese bombing of New Britain began in early January 1942 and increased in intensity over the following weeks. On 22 January, Lark Force withdrew from Rabaul, waiting on the western shores of Blanche Bay for the inevitable Japanese landings.

These began at 1 am on 23 January. By 9 am, communication failures and overwhelming Japanese strength had destroyed the cohesion of the Australian defence. The Lark Force commander ordered a withdrawal on the basis of “every man for himself”. Unprepared for retreat, Lark Force disintegrated.

Over the following days, groups ranging from company-strength to individuals, sought escape along New Britain's north and south coasts. Some found small boats and got away, others were picked up by larger vessels operating from New Guinea. Around 400 members of Lark Force managed to return to Australia.

Sadly, Desmond Tully was not among those who were rescued. He was initially declared missing, and news of his fate was slow to emerge. In April 1942, his family heard from a soldier returned to Australia from Rabaul that Desmond had managed to escape, and in October 1943 they received news that he was a prisoner of war.

Two years later, in October 1945, Sydney Probate Court received an affidavit from Lieutenant Colonel B. J. Dawson stating that in February 1942, Tully and a plantation manager named Brian Sweetapple had planned to follow the coast to the evacuation port. Dawson returned to New Britain in late 1944 and talked to the headman of Pul Pul Village, who told him that, after an argument about a canoe, men from his village had murdered Tully and Sweetapple while they slept and thrown their bodies into the sea. When another man from the group returned from a search for food, he was killed and his body hidden in the bush.

Desmond Tully was 23 years old.

Today he is commemorated at the Rabaul Memorial.

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 Acting Corporal Desmond Tully, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section