The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (VX129348) Gunner Ivan Lee Olden Hatcher, Heavy Battery Rabaul (Coastal Battery) RAA, 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 David Sutton, the story for this day was on (VX129348) Gunner Ivan Lee Olden Hatcher, Heavy Battery Rabaul (Coastal Battery) RAA, Second World War.

VX129348 Gunner Ivan Lee Olden Hatcher, Heavy Battery Rabaul (Coastal Battery) RAA
At Sea (Montevideo Maru) 1 July 1942


Today we remember and pay tribute to Gunner Ivan Lee Olden Hatcher.

Ivan Hatcher was born on 6 May 1922 in Cygnet, Tasmania, one of four children born to Walter and Lily Hatcher.

Following his education, Hatcher lived in Melbourne where he worked as a jewellery salesman. Before enlisting in the Second Australian Imperial Force, he gained military experience by serving in the local Senior Cadets, and later in the 5th Battalion of the Victorian Scottish Regiment, a local militia force.

On 20 May 1940, Hatcher joined the Royal Australian Artillery at Queenscliff, Victoria.

He served in the coastal battery defending Rabaul, on the island of New Britain, off Papua New Guinea’s east coast. This artillery defence battery formed part of Lark Force, a mixture of New Guinea Volunteer Rifles and Australian units tasked with defending the important Allied air fields at Lakunai and Vunakanau, protecting the seaplane base at Rabaul, and providing early warning to Australian authorities as Japanese forces assaulted the islands to Australia’s north.

Hatcher and the troops of Lark Force spent months in New Britain adjusting to the tropical conditions, training, and preparing defences for the likely Japanese invasion. In early January 1942, Japanese forces commenced increasingly intensive bombing and air raids over the island. By the 22nd of January, they had virtually destroyed 24 Squadron, the Air Force unit providing Lark Force’s air support.

In the early hours of 23 January 1942, a 5,000-man strong Japanese force attacked New Britain, and the 1,400 Allied defenders were completely overrun. The commander of Lark Force ordered a withdrawal on the basis of every man for himself.

In the chaos, only 400 members of Lark Force were able to escape the island, another 160 were massacred by the Japanese at Tol Plantation, and over 800, Hatcher included, were taken as prisoners of war.

On 22 June 1942, Hatcher, the surviving prisoners of war, and hundreds of civilians, were loaded onto the ship the Montevideo Maru for transportation from Rabaul to Hainan Island in the South China Sea. On 1 July 1942, the ship was tragically struck by a torpedo from an American submarine, the USS Sturgeon. The Montevideo Maru sank in a little over 10 minutes, and Hatcher is listed as one of the more than 1,000 civilians and Australian prisoners of war to have lost their lives. Hatcher was 20 years old.

The sinking of the Montevideo Maru is considered the worst maritime disaster in Australian history. According to a surviving Japanese crewman, Australians in the water sang “Auld Lang Syne” to their trapped mates as the ship sank beneath the waves.

Hatcher’s name is recorded on the Rabaul Memorial in Papua New Guinea, which commemorates over 1,200 Australians who lost their lives fighting around New Britain and New Ireland who have no known grave.

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 Gunner Ivan Leo Olden Hatcher, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section