The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (QX24186) Private Garth Francis Aitchison, 2/12 Field Ambulance att Ships Staff (AAMC) Centaur, 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 (QX24186) Private Garth Francis Aitchison, 2/12 Field Ambulance att Ships Staff (AAMC) Centaur, Second World War.

QX24186 Private Garth Francis Aitchison, 2/12 Field Ambulance att Ships Staff (AAMC) Centaur
KIA 14 May 1943

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Garth Francis Aitchison.

Garth Aitchison was born in Brisbane on 13 January 1921, the eldest son of Angus and Sylvia Aitchison.
Little is known of his early years. He grew up in Brisbane, and went on to work as a clerk and accountant until enlisting in the Australian Army Medical Corps on 13 October 1941.

After entering camp at Redbank, he began training at Tamworth in November.

Aitchison became engaged to his sweetheart, Doreen Wilson, before being allotted to reinforcements to the 2/12th Field Ambulance in December.

The 2/12th Field Ambulance would deploy personnel in support of combat operations against the Japanese on Ambon, Timor and in Borneo. In doing so, it would come to have the highest casualty rate of any non-combatant unit in the Australian Army.

Aitchison’s training on the job continued with a detachment to an Australian General Hospital in December. Later in the month, he was transferred to the Northern Territory.

While camped at Winnellie, south of the RAAF Darwin airfield, the 2/12th sent small support groups of approximately 40 men to Timor and Ambon to support Sparrow and Gull forces. More groups followed after the earlier parties were captured by the Japanese. However, they were forced to return after their convoy came under heavy Japanese bombing attacks.

Aitchison and his unit were at Winnellie during the Japanese bombing attacks on Darwin during the first half of 1942.

In June Aitchison was graded as a nursing orderly. In October he was detached for further training, rejoining his unit the month after.

In 1943, the 2/12th relocated to a camp near Wollongong in New South Wales. This provided Aitchison with an opportunity to marry Doreen Wilson on 6 February 1943.
A few months later, on 11 May 1943, Aitchison embarked on the hospital ship Centaur, which was headed for Port Moresby to collect injured Australian soldiers. In addition to its crew of merchant seamen and members of the 2/12th Field Ambulance unit, Centaur was carrying medical staff from the Royal Australian Army, nurses from the Australian Army Nursing Service, and Australian Army Service Corps ambulance drivers.

In the early hours of 14 May 1943 the Centaur was north-east of Brisbane. The ship was well-lit and clearly marked as a hospital ship, with red crosses and green lines painted on the hull, red crosses on the funnel and stem, and the Red Cross number that clearly identified her as a hospital ship.

At approximately 4 am, Centaur was attacked by a Japanese submarine.

The ship sank in less than three minutes. Of the 332 people aboard, there were only 64 survivors.

Among the dead was Private Garth Francis Aitchison, who was 22 years old.

With no grave but the sea, today he is commemorated at the Sydney Memorial in Rookwood Cemetery.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 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 Garth Francis Aitchison, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section