The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (QX33344) Private Lawrence Valentine Nelson Symons, 2/31st Australian Infantry Battalion, 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (QX33344) Private Lawrence Valentine Nelson Symons, 2/31st Australian Infantry Battalion, Second World War.

QX33344 Private Lawrence Valentine Nelson Symons, 2/31st Australian Infantry Battalion
KIA 15 September 1943

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Lawrence Valentine Nelson Symons.

Lawrence Symons was born on 8 February 1921 in Bingara, New South Wales, the son of William and Maria Symons.

He grew up in Bingara, a small town in the New England region of New South Wales, alongside his siblings Joseph, Robert, William, George, Victor, Bruce, Ted, and Nell.

After his schooling, Symons worked at trapping and selling rabbits. After being introduced to Australia by the First Fleet, the rabbit population exploded. They spread faster than has ever been recorded for any mammal anywhere in the world. Although a notorious pest, they proved useful to many people in the Depression era of the 1930s, for whom trapping rabbits provided food and extra income.

Symons’ mother died in January 1941. The following year, on 30 June 1942, he enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force in Brisbane.

Private Symons soon joined a training battalion, and in May 1943 he was taken on strength of the 2/31st Battalion, which had been withdrawn to Australia after extensive fighting on the Kokoda Trail. By the end of the battalion’s involvement in the campaign, only 55 men were fit for duty. In Australia the battalion trained and reorganised before returning to New Guinea in July 1943.

Symons and his battalion arrived in Port Moresby on 26 July in preparation for the advance on the Japanese base at Lae. The men flew into Nadzab on the 12th of September and, after a hurried advance, joined the fighting east of Lae.

The 9th Australian Division had landed east of Lae earlier in the month and established its beachhead before the first transports carrying the 7th Division – including Symons’ 2/31st Battalion – began to arrive. As the landward advance began, the two divisions made rapid progress, and the operation developed into a race for Lae.
They both reached Lae on the 16th of September. Around 1,500 Japanese were killed in the operation and another 2,000 taken prisoner. The 7th Division suffered 59 fatal casualties in an aircraft accident, and 38 in the fighting.

Among the dead was Lawrence Symons, killed in action on 15 September 1943 at Edwards’ Plantation.

He was 22 years old.

Today, his remains lie in Lae War Cemetery, alongside over 2,800 Commonwealth burials 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 Private Lawrence Valentine Nelson Symons, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Historian, Military History Section