The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (QX18795) Private Stephen Benedict Hocken, 2/3 Ordnance Stores Company, Second World War.

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Accession Number AWM2021.1.1.162
Collection type Film
Object type Last Post film
Physical description 16:9
Maker Australian War Memorial
Place made Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell
Date made 11 June 2021
Access Open
Conflict Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Description

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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (QX18795) Private Stephen Benedict Hocken, 2/3 Ordnance Stores Company, Second World War.

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Speech transcript

QX18795 Private Stephen Benedict Hocken, 2/3 Ordnance Stores Company
Died at sea (Rakuyo Maru) 12 September 1944

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Stephen Benedict Hocken.

Stephen Hocken was born in Brisbane into the large family of John and Mabel Hocken.

His father, John, was a waterside worker at North Mackay, where Stephen grew up alongside his siblings: William, Henry, Francis, Mabel, Margaret, Rhoda, Joseph, Phillip, Paul, and Rose.

There is some uncertainty about how old Stephen was when he enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force in late July 1941. While he may have been 19 years and four months old as he claimed at the time, some records seem to suggest that he may have been only 16.

Regardless, he became the fourth of six Hocken brothers to enlist. He was working as a shop assistant for Beirne Ltd at the time, and the company hosted a farewell for him, at which he was presented with “a field service wristlet watch and a balaclava cap, knitted vest and socks”.

After a short period in a training battalion, and a period of pre-embarkation leave, on 29 October 1941 he embarked for Malaya.

In mid-December, Hocken joined 2/3 Ordnance Stores Company, which was responsible for the supply and administration of weapons and ammunition.

As war broke out in the Pacific, Japanese forces invaded Malaya. Indian and British units in northern Malaya initially provided stiff resistance, but were forced to withdraw in the face of the speed, ferocity and surprise of the Japanese attack.

Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaya, was taken on 11 January 1942, and delaying actions were undertaken as Allied forces retreated towards Singapore.

On 31 January, British and Australian forces withdrew across the causeway that separated Singapore from Malaya. Barely a week later, Japanese forces attacked across the Johor Strait.

When Singapore was surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February, Hocken and his comrades in the 8th Division were initially imprisoned at Selerang Barracks at Changi. But from May onwards the Japanese began sending groups of prisoners of war for labouring work elsewhere in Asia and the Pacific, including on the notorious Burma–Thailand railway.

Starved of food and medicine, the men were forced to work impossibly long hours in remote unhealthy locations. By the time the railway was completed in October 1943 approximately 13,000 prisoners of war, including more than 2,600 Australians, had died – in addition to an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians.

But the worst and most dangerous period in a prisoner’s life was travelling in captivity by sea. Over-crowding, sickness, disease and the dangers posed by Allied submarines caused stress and anxiety. Conditions on board these ships were beyond severe. Over 1,000 prisoners might be crammed into spaces suitable for a few hundred, and given little food, fresh water, or adequate sanitation facilities.

After the completion of the railway, Hocken was among some 1,300 Australian and British prisoners of war that the Japanese loaded aboard the Rakuyo Maru. It was part of a convoy carrying mostly raw materials that left Singapore for Japan on 6 September 1944. The prisoners were all survivors of the Burma–Thailand Railway who had recently returned to Singapore.

On the morning of 12 September 1944, the convoy was attacked by American submarines in the South China Sea. Rakuyo Maru was sunk by the American submarne, USS Sealion II. Prisoners who were able to get off the ships spent the following days in life-rafts or clinging to wreckage in open water. About 150 Australian and British survivors were rescued by American submarines. A further 500 were picked up by Japanese destroyers and continued their journey to Japan. Those who were not rescued, perished at sea. A total of 1,559 Australian and British prisoners of war were killed in the incident, all missing at sea.

Amongst the dead was Stephen Hocken.

According to family tradition, a member of the Hocken family was listening to short wave radio when the announcement was made that the ship had been sunk.

After the war had finished, a schoolmate of Stephen’s told the family that Stephen had been with him after the sinking; the two of them were clinging to floating debris until Stephen said, “I can’t do this any more”, and slipped under the water.

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 Private Stephen Benedict Hocken, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section

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