The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Lieutenant Commander Harrie Binns Gerrett, HMAS Sydney, 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 Jennifer Surtees, the story for this day was on Lieutenant Commander Harrie Binns Gerrett, HMAS Sydney, Second World War.

Lieutenant Commander Harrie Binns Gerrett, HMAS Sydney
DOD 21 October 1944

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Commander Harrie Binns Gerrett.

Harrie Gerrett was born at Kogarah fire station in Sydney on 5 November 1912, the son of James, district officer of the fire brigades in the area, and Hannah Gerrett.
Young Harrie Gerrett studied for the navy as a schoolboy and entered Naval College at Jervis Bay in 1926, the year he turned 14. After four years at the college, he joined HMAS Australia as a midshipman, before serving four years in a naval college in England. After being issued a commission on 21 March 1934, he returned to Australia, and served on HMAS Waterhen and Vendetta.

Gerret next joined HMAS Canberra as a lieutenant in 1937. On 12 July, Harrie Gerrett married Virginia Ransome. The two had kept their engagement a secret, and while Gerrett was on leave they decided to get married – giving themselves only three days to make the arrangements. The couple would later have two daughters, Carolyn and Rosemary.

After the wedding, Gerrett returned to England to take an aircraft observer’s course. He was next transferred to the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, part of the Royal Navy, and was serving there when the Second World War broke out. He was on the Ark Royal until July 1940, and was Mentioned in Despatches for gallantry and devotion to duty in the Mediterranean.

His next posting was to the battleship HMS King George V. With that ship he took part in the action which sank the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941.
Gerrett returned to Australia later that year, and after serving a short term on the Canberra was transferred back to Australia as a lieutenant commander, where he served during actions in the Pacific.

A report about his conduct of March 1944 noted that while he was “disappointed at being unable to follow an observer’s career”, he had “abandoned this specialisation” and “applied himself more actively to his ship’s duties”, and “would be suitable as 1st Lieutenant of a small cruiser in a few months’ time.”

In October 1944, more than 4,000 Australians were involved in efforts to free the Philippines from Japanese occupation. All three Australian services participated in the campaign in some capacity, but it was the Royal Australian Navy which bore the greatest losses.

Australian cruisers, destroyers, frigates, troop transports, and other smaller ships operated closely with the United States Navy – and HMAS Australia suffered the worst casualties. This action took place during the Philippines campaign in Leyte Bay. On 21 October 1944, the Australia was struck by a Japanese dive-bomber, which crashed into its port side. Thirty men were killed or died from their wounds, and 62 were wounded. Among the dead was Lieutenant Commander Harrie Binns Gerrett, who was 31 years old.

With no grave but the sea, today he is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in England , which honours more than 7,200 sailors of the First World War and nearly 16,000 of the Second World War.

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 Lieutenant Commander Harrie Binns Gerrett, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section