The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX2567) Private William Forbes Schuberth, 2/30th 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 Sharon Bown, the story for this day was on (NX2567) Private William Forbes Schuberth, 2/30th Australian Infantry Battalion, Second World War.

NX2567 Private William Forbes Schuberth, 2/30th Australian Infantry Battalion
Executed 30 July 1942

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private William Schuberth.

William Forbes Schuberth was born on 27 September 1906 in Sunderland, England, the son of Thomas and Emily Schuberth.

When William was still young, his family moved to Australia, and he came to live in Ballina, where he married Mary Fisher in 1928. The couple went on to have three children: Raymond, Shirley, and Nola.

In 1933, Schuberth was charged with driving without a license, after a lorry accident near Swansea left five members of the Schuberth family in hospital.

He served for four years with the 15th Light Horse Unit of the Militia, and had been working as a labourer around Ballina and Newcastle. But he was unemployed when he enlisted in the 2nd Australian Imperial Force on 23 April 1941 in Paddington.

Schuberth joined the 2/30th Battalion in Bathurst. After being fined two pounds for being absent without leave during mid-July, at the end of the month the battalion sailed to Singapore and from there went to Malaya.

On 7 December, Japanese forces landed in northern Malaya. B Company of the 2/30th ambushed the Japanese at Gemencheh Bridge on 14 January 1942, while the rest of the battalion engaged the Japanese the next day.

Following this, the 2/30th fought at Ayer Hitam in Johor, and then in the defence of Singapore Island. However, they could not stop the onwards drive of Japanese forces, and on 15 February the British commander on Singapore surrendered.

Schuberth and the rest of his battalion became prisoners of war at Changi Prison. Workforces were soon assembled with volunteers promised better food and conditions, the first of which was was “A Force”, which left Singapore in mid-May in a suffocating and immensely crowded “hell ship”.

A Force was split into three, and Schuberth was among a group of 1,000 sent to Mergui in the remote south of Burma.

At first the conditions were adequate, if basic. Japanese control was fairly lax and the Australian commander Brigadier Arthur Varley established a relatively good working relationship with the Japanese. Despite this, prisoners who attempted to escape were executed without trial, despite the protests of Australian officers.

On 30 July 1942, William Schuberth was executed for attempting to escape from Mergui.

Eighteen years later, Leslie Hall, who had served as sergeant in the 2/30th, submitted his account of what happened to William Schuberth to a short story competition run by The Sunday Telegraph:

One fateful night, Bill Schuberth decided to “go under the fence”, slither into the jungle and try to make his way to the nearby village, and try to get not only a little food for himself, but more importantly to bring back food for those in hospital and too ill to go out to work.

Unfortunately, Bill, a large man whose one distinctive feature was a very hairy chest, was caught by the Burmese Police, beaten and kicked before being thrown into a bamboo jail. He was able to kick his way out of the flimsy jail, and made his way back to camp, where his friends cleaned the blood from his face and tended as best they could his bruised body, and advised his to return to his bunk and pretend to be asleep. Returning to their ruined jail the Burmese police lost no time in travelling to the camp, informing the Japanese commander that one of their prisoners had escaped, and were able to provide the information that the man had a very hairy chest.

Only Bill and one other man in camp matched the description, and the guards descended on one of the huts and started yellings and bashing one of the occupants. On learning what was happening, Bill immediately entered the other hut and gave himself up to the guards. Another good beating followed for Bill before he was taken before the camp commander who called several of the Australian officers before him and wanted to know why one of their men had tried to escape. Knowing the penalty, the officers insisted Bill had not tried to escape. It was only desperate hunger that drove Bill to try to find some extra food for himself and others. The commander was not totally convinced, but agreed to contact his commanding officer with the problem. Some days later the reply came back, “Execute Immediately”.

The first indication Australian officers had that the reply had been received was when Bill was thrown into a truck, heavily bound and under heavy guard driven to an undisclosed area.

As they passed a group of Australians working around the Camp grounds, Bill yelled out his final words, “Tell the Colonel they are going to execute me. God Bless You.”

Schuberth was buried at Taukkyan War Cemetery. He was 35 years old.

On 7 March 2012, Schuberth and 19 other Australian prisoners of war who had been executed for trying to escape were awarded commendations for gallantry by the Commonwealth Government.

William Schuberth’s 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 Private William Forbes Schuberth, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section