The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX14900) Lance Sergeant Fred Lindsay Staggs, 2/18th Battalion, 2nd AIF, 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (NX14900) Lance Sergeant Fred Lindsay Staggs, 2/18th Battalion, 2nd AIF, Second World War.

NX14900 Lance Sergeant Fred Lindsay Staggs, 2/18th Battalion, 2nd AIF
KIA 31 March 1945

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Sergeant Fred Lindsay Staggs.

Fred Staggs was born on 29 April 1892 in Lismore, New South Wales, one of seven boys and three girls born to John and Jemima Staggs. In 1908 the family moved to Inverell, where Fred’s father worked a property known as Rose Hill.

Staggs enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force with his brothers Andrew and Neil just weeks after the outbreak of the First World War, on 27 August 1914. Two more brothers would attempt to enlist, with one, George, succeeding in 1916. Fred and Andrew joined the 1st Battalion and were sent overseas, where they were part of the second and third waves of the landings at Anzac Cove on Gallipoli. On 19 May 1915 Andy and Fred were in the line talking to each other when the Turks attacked, and Andy was shot through the neck. He was told to leave and get his wound dressed, but refused, remaining in the front line to help carry ammunition. As he worked, he was hit again. Fred later wrote, “thank God he never suffered – the end came very quickly … Nobody can say he was anything but brave.”

Fred Staggs continued to serve on Gallipoli without interruption, and in September 1915 was appointed lance corporal. Evacuating with the main force back to Egypt, he was shortly afterwards promoted to corporal. He spent much of the first half of 1916 in and out of hospital with a recurrent hernia, before finally being invalided back to Australia in July, and discharged from military service.
In 1917 Staggs married Alice Grace Hart, and the couple had a number of children. A son, also named Fred, would go on to serve in the Second World War.

In January 1939 Staggs was working as an engine driver when he joined the Militia. He was promoted to sergeant before enlisting in the Second AIF in May 1940 at the age of 48. He lied about his birth date on his attestation papers, listing his age as 35.

Despite his age, Staggs served in a number of units over several months without illness or injury. Before he left for overseas service with the 8th Division he was one of two men farewelled by the local returned soldiers’ league. Major G.R. McPhee gave the toast, noting Staggs’ strong character and work ethic:
I was immediately impressed by his sincere desire to do his job well … Now that he is in the AIF his services will be all the more valuable to his country.

In February 1941 Staggs embarked with the 2/18th Battalion aboard the famous ocean-liner-cum-troopship, the Queen Mary. On arriving in Singapore he was confirmed in the rank of corporal. When Japan entered the war later in the year, the Malayan peninsula was invaded, and from mid-January 1942 the units of the 8th Division were involved in fierce fighting. On 15 February, after the Japanese had taken Singapore Island, the Australians surrendered, and Fred Staggs was among the thousands who became prisoners of war.

The Japanese soon called for working parties to build and expand new infrastructure across their empire. In July “B Force” was formed at Changi prisoner-of-war camp, and among them was Fred Staggs. The men volunteered, assured of better food and conditions, but found themselves on a hellish sea journey to Borneo, crammed into cargo holds for 11 days before arriving at Sandakan.
Though initially bearable, conditions in the camp deteriorated into some of the worst experienced by prisoners of the Japanese. Prisoners, including the sick, were forced at gunpoint to work on the construction of a military airstrip, and were often beaten by their captors. Illness and death ravaged the camp, and food was scarce, and by January 1945 the prisoners were fending for themselves.

The completed airfield was soon destroyed by Allied bombing, and between January and March 1945 some 450 of the fittest prisoners were ordered to march west to Ranau – a distance of around 260 kilometres. All were suffering from malnutrition and some from disease.
The march was horrendous. The Japanese guards refused to let the prisoners rest, and those too sick or weak to continue were left behind to die. Fred Staggs was reported to have died on the death march on the 31st of March 1945. He was 52 years old.

For years afterwards Fred’s loving wife, Alice, and his family would honour his memory on the anniversary of his death with tributes in the local newspaper.

Lance Sergeant Fred Staggs is commemorated on the memorial at the Labuan War Cemetery in Malaysia, and his name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 others from 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 Lance Sergeant Fred Lindsay Staggs, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Christina Zissis
Editor, Military History Section