The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (QX7985) Private Harvey James Petersen, No 1 Independent Company Rabaul, 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on (QX7985) Private Harvey James Petersen, No 1 Independent Company Rabaul, Second World War.

QX7985 Private Harvey James Petersen, No 1 Independent Company Rabaul,
At sea 1 July 1942

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Harvey James Petersen.

Harvey Petersen was born on 16 July 1919 in Babinda, a small sugar town located on the Bruce Highway about 60 kilometres south of Cairns in Queensland. Harvey was the youngest son of Peter and Kathleen Petersen, who lived nearby in Harvey Creek.

By the time the Second World War begun, Harvey Petersen was working as a farmer, and had served in the local Militia.

He enlisted on 2 July 1940. At the time he was 20 years old, but gave his age as 21, possibly to avoid the need to obtain parental consent.

Petersen joined the 3rd Infantry Training Battalion, and while undertaking initial training was found absent without leave in March 1941 and again in April, being admonished and then fined for these infractions.

In May 1941 Petersen was transferred to the newly formed No. 1 Independent Company. As the company continued to be built, he had a period of pre-embarkation leave in June. With the threat of war with Japan looming, in July the company was sent to Kavieng on the island of New Ireland, part of New Guinea. Petersen was admitted to hospital in Enoggera before making the trip, but followed his unit soon afterwards, travelling via Brisbane and Rabaul.

On 21 January 1942, the invasion began with about 60 Japanese aircraft attacked Kavieng. Although the commandos shot down a number of aircraft, the company’s only means of escape, the Induna Star, was damaged. The schooner managed to sail to Kaut, but was in a poor state, a threat made worse by the fact that Japanese naval force was approaching.

As Japanese troops reached the airfield, there was fighting as the Australians blew the airfield and supply dump. Hopelessly outnumbered, those who had not been killed or captured fell back to Sook. On 28 January the company moved to Kaut where they repaired the Induna Star, with the aim of sailing at night to reach the east coast of New Britain. By 31 January they had reached Kalili Harbour, but by then, the fighting on New Britain was over and that the Japanese had occupied Rabaul.
The Australians became prisoners of war. After a few months at Rabaul, the officers were separated from their NCOs and men. They would be taken to Japan where they would remain in captivity for the rest of the war. The NCOs and men, however, had a much sadder fate.

At the end of June, these men, along with the 2/22nd Battalion, other members of Lark Force who had been captured on New Britain, and about 200 civilians, boarded the Japanese passenger ship Montevideo Maru, which was to sail unescorted for Hainan Island. On the 1st of July 1942 the unmarked ship was sighted by an American submarine, the Sturgeon, off the coast of the Luzon, in the Philippines. Firing its torpedoes, the Sturgeon sunk the Montevideo Maru. A handful of the Japanese crew was rescued. None of the prisoners survived.

At home in Australia, news about the fate of those aboard the Montevideo Maru was slow to arrive. Petersen was initially reported missing, and in October that year that the Petersen family received word that Harvey was a prisoner of war at Rabaul, with details that he was well treated and fit.

Confirmation of his death didn’t come until late 1945. The grief of the Petersen family lasted many years. They continued to place in memoriam notices in their newspaper, the Cairns Post, for many years to come. Each notice contained a new message. By 1954, that unabated grief was expressed tersely:
Not just to-day, but every day, in silence we remember.

Harvey Petersen’s 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 Private Harvey James Petersen, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section