Kokoda Vale

30 August 2017

19 mins read

The Hon. Dr Brendan Nelson AO

Commemorative area, Australian War Memorial

My name is Dr Brendan Nelson, I am the Director of the Australian War Memorial and I welcome you here this morning, and those that are viewing this on our live streaming broadcast, to a very special broadcast.

A Vale where cadets of RMC Duntroon will read the names of the 641 Australians who gave their lives for us, our freedoms, our values, in the four months of the Kokoda campaign.

Australians let us all rejoice, for we are young and free, the first line of our National Anthem, we sing it often. Much less often do we pause to reflect on what it really means. We are free, in no small way because these men, in 1942, on stones of despair and courage, stood between the advancing Japanese and Port Moresby.

After 1788 the most vitally important year in our history was 1942. 75 years ago today in the Kokoda Campaign, at Isurava desperate fighting was being undertaken by the Australians. The Australian Official Historian Dudley McCarthy said of Kokoda,

“… it is the story of small groups of men, infinitesimally small against the mountains in which they fought, who killed one another in stealthy and isolated encounters beside the tracks which were life to all of them; of warfare in which men first conquered the country and then allied themselves with it and then killed or died in the midst of a great loneliness.”

As we pause here, in the heart of the land they lived, one who survived, a member of the 39th Militia Battalion, Sergeant Jack Simms, said of this in the year 2000,

‘Some prayed, some swore with fear, but you wouldn’t show it in front of your mates. One of the boys got shot fair between the eyes, right alongside me. It was a perfect shot. Terrible to be afraid, but its’ the brave ones afraid that still kept going, that’s what they did you know. Scared bloody stiff and they still kept going.

They were so young, so young.

I loved them all. ‘

These 641 names we are about to hear, whom we remember, we loved them all. The 1,600 Australians who were wounded, the 4,000 with severe disease who had to be taken out of the line, we owe these men, and what they did, a debt we can barely understand, let alone repay.

Here is the Vale for them.

Rank	Name	Date of Death	Age at Death
SCDT Murray
Private	Sydney Maldon Moffatt	25-July-1942	27
Temporary Captain	Samuel Victor Templeton	26-July-1942	41
Private	Thomas Charles Herbert	27-July-1942	26
Private	Harry Lubansky	27-July-1942	19
Private	Leslie Alan Speechley	27-July-1942	20
Private	Harold Edward Bould	29-July-1942	29
Private	Victor George Holness	29-July-1942	23
Private	John William McGrath	29-July-1942	21
Private	Alexander John Molony	29-July-1942	23
Temporary Lieutenant Colonel	William Taylor Owen	29-July-1942	37
Private	David Ernest Priestley	29-July-1942	21
Private	Reginald Tierney	29-July-1942	33
Private	John Hughes	2-August-1942	35
Pata	Pokino	6-August-1942	20
Chaplain	Henry Matthews	7-August-1942	66
Private	Frank Stork	7-August-1942	21
Private	Ronald George Atkinson	8-August-1942	21
Lieutenant	Hercules William Crawford	8-August-1942	34
Temporary Captain	Arthur Cyril Dean	8-August-1942	27
Private	Joseph Desmond Dwyer	8-August-1942	32
Private	Thomas George Freestone	8-August-1942	21
Acting Sergeant	Robert Hugh Hanna	8-August-1942	19
Acting Sergeant	Lyle Radford Hewitt	8-August-1942	21
Private	Ralph John Holyoake	8-August-1942	20
Private	Erwin Josch	8-August-1942	24
Acting Corporal	Harry Douglas Palmer	8-August-1942	21
Private	John Kenneth Robinson	8-August-1942	27
Private	Leslie John Balfour	9-August-1942	21
Private	Rexleigh William Curran	9-August-1942	22
Private	Bernard Michael Hanlon	9-August-1942	28
Lance Corporal	Frank Francis McLeod	9-August-1942	25
Private	Colin Francis Mead	9-August-1942	20
Private	Raymond Alfred Roberts	9-August-1942	24
Private	Leslie Charles Skinner	9-August-1942	20
Private	Lionel Frederick Spencer	9-August-1942	25
Private	John Adrian Tudor Stormont	9-August-1942	19
Private	Maxwell Clifford Thomson	9-August-1942	27
Acting Corporal	Arthur Royce Williams	9-August-1942	20
Private	Victor Fowler	10-August-1942	24
Private	Francis Howard Hempel	10-August-1942	23
Acting Corporal	Donald Alfred Howlett	10-August-1942	17
SCDT White
Private	Vernon Charles Scattergood	10-August-1942	20
Private	Norman Charles Alfred Watkins	10-August-1942	30
Private	Ronald James Nicholson	12-August-1942	21
Lance Corporal	Denis Hackett	13-August-1942	24
Private	Robert Nottle	13-August-1942	21
Acting Sergeant	Clifford Pulfer	13-August-1942	28
Private	Clarence Rozelle Winch	13-August-1942	22
Lieutenant	Louis Ernest Austen	14-August-1942	50
Private	Keith Leonard Stewart	15-August-1942	23
Private	William Denis Hourigan	20-August-1942	22
Private	Donald James MacGraw	24-August-1942	23
Lieutenant	Alan Isaachsen	25-August-1942	24
Lance Corporal	James Gerard O'Donnell	26-August-1942	31
Acting Corporal	Aloysius Joseph Reilly	26-August-1942	28
Private	Roger Wellesley Foster	27-August-1942	22
Private	Albert George Grace	27-August-1942	20
Acting Corporal	Henry James Hayes	27-August-1942	33
Acting Corporal	Douglas Albert Hayward	27-August-1942	21
Lieutenant	Rowland Leslie Logan	27-August-1942	23
Warrant Officer Class 2	Reevo Warry Noel Spalding	27-August-1942	27
Corporal	Archibald Stewart	27-August-1942	25
Private	Donald James Thompson	27-August-1942	21
Lieutenant Colonel	Kenneth Harry Ward	27-August-1942	39
Corporal	George Henry Anderson	28-August-1942	25
Lieutenant	Arthur John Davis	28-August-1942	35
Private	Arthur Eric Jackson	28-August-1942	20
Private	Frederick Laurence Lowery	28-August-1942	24
Lieutenant	George Greenwell Moore	28-August-1942	25
Private	Sydney Walter Gordon Reynolds	28-August-1942	23
Lieutenant	Arthur Auchter Smith	28-August-1942	21
Private	George James Smith	28-August-1942	22
Private	Lionel Montgomery Watts	28-August-1942	19
Lieutenant	William George Boddington	29-August-1942	33
Lieutenant	William Prescott Cox	29-August-1942	28
Private	John James Egan	29-August-1942	20
Corporal	Stanley Clifford Ellery	29-August-1942	23
Private	John Allan Ferguson	29-August-1942	22
Acting Sergeant	George Lynn Gibson	29-August-1942	34
Private	Peter Hodge	29-August-1942	23
Lance Corporal	Roy Victor Hunter	29-August-1942	22
Corporal	Mark Kilburn	29-August-1942	33
Private	Bruce Steel Kingsbury	29-August-1942	24
Acting Corporal	Michael Malouf	29-August-1942	22
Private	Edward George Masters	29-August-1942	34
Private	Edward Albert Randall	29-August-1942	22
SCDT Caulfield
Private	William Vincent Ratchford	29-August-1942	26
Corporal	Alfred Arthur Seagroatt	29-August-1942	34
Private	Peter Lorrie Shenton	29-August-1942	22
Private	Alfred James Souter	29-August-1942	27
Private	George Thomas Spokes	29-August-1942	25
Sergeant	Adam Thompson Stewart	29-August-1942	25
Private	Bevan Laurie Moreton Thomas	29-August-1942	22
Private	Alan Henry George Warn	29-August-1942	28
Private	William Henry Williams	29-August-1942	20
Private	Douglas Galbraith Wilson	29-August-1942	24
Private	Robert Macmorran Barrett	30-August-1942	32
Lieutenant	Thomas Harold Bisset	30-August-1942	32
Acting Corporal	David Clifford Carland	30-August-1942	26
Private	Alfred John Clare	30-August-1942	20
Lance Corporal	Llewellyn William Mark Cook	30-August-1942	22
Corporal	James Craig	30-August-1942	20
Corporal	Leslie Walter Croton	30-August-1942	23
Private	Gordon Norman Crump	30-August-1942	23
Private	Alan Alexander Daniels	30-August-1942	23
Private	John William Dawson	30-August-1942	26
Corporal	Leo Daniel Deeley	30-August-1942	20
Corporal	Frank Alan Dolphin	30-August-1942	24
Private	Thomas Francis Doolan	30-August-1942	28
Corporal	Harry William Dusting	30-August-1942	24
Private	William Robert Edwards	30-August-1942	21
Private	Ernest Fitzsimmons	30-August-1942	41
Lance Corporal	Kenneth George Gardiner	30-August-1942	27
Private	Peter Gill	30-August-1942	24
Private	William George Hancock	30-August-1942	24
Private	Edward Harris	30-August-1942	33
Private	Oliver Alexander Hillman	30-August-1942	23
Temporary Captain	Kenneth Reginald Jacob	30-August-1942	22
Private	Keith King	30-August-1942	22
Private	George Knight	30-August-1942	39
Private	Jack Knipe	30-August-1942	18
Private	Joseph Swanto Knuckey	30-August-1942	22
Acting Corporal	Ivan George Leask	30-August-1942	19
Corporal	Ron Allan McIntosh	30-August-1942	22
Private	Keith Russell McKindley	30-August-1942	20
Private	Stanley Gilbert Michel	30-August-1942	34
Private	Albert Joseph John Misson	30-August-1942	24
Private	Charles George Moffatt	30-August-1942	24
Private	Raymond Walter Morris	30-August-1942	37

SCDT Rushby
Private	Morris Blair Nisbet	30-August-1942	23
Private	Thomas Charles Parish	30-August-1942	23
Private	Herbert Fredrick Paxford	30-August-1942	35
Private	Claude Herbert Roberts	30-August-1942	30
Private	Alfred Russell	30-August-1942	20
Private	Frank Smalley	30-August-1942	38
Private	David Harry Smith	30-August-1942	22
Private	Donald William Smith	30-August-1942	19
Private	George Leslie Speechley	30-August-1942	24
Private	Nelson Leonard Spooner	30-August-1942	24
Corporal	Stanley Wray Thomas	30-August-1942	22
Sergeant	Bernard William Walsh	30-August-1942	25
Private	John Anthony Whellans	30-August-1942	26
Private	Ronald George Wilson	30-August-1942	31
Private	Bernard Francis Carlson	31-August-1942	28
Private	Joseph Weldon Johnston	31-August-1942	32
Private	John Charles Lee-Steere	31-August-1942	32
Private	Ernest Lingenberg	31-August-1942	32
Private	Warren Campbell Morton	31-August-1942	18
Corporal	Michael Taylor Clarke	1-Sep-1942	23
Private	Reginald Hackshaw	1-Sep-1942	36
Private	Stanley Edward Large	1-Sep-1942	23
Private	Leslie Parry	1-Sep-1942	33
Private	Walter Daniel Shain	1-Sep-1942	25
Private	Alexander George Thornton	1-Sep-1942	28
Private	Thomas Leslie Burford	2-Sep-1942	18
Private	Gordon Raymond Etty	2-Sep-1942	28
Private	Walter Maurice Greenwood	2-Sep-1942	23
Lieutenant	Thomas Hall	2-Sep-1942	31
Private	Thomas Boyce McAtee	2-Sep-1942	32
Private	John Patrick O'Sullivan	2-Sep-1942	24
Pata	Ovi	2-Sep-1942	29
Lieutenant	Donald Andrew Paterson	2-Sep-1942	24
Private	Lawrence Rex Veale	2-Sep-1942	26
Private	Patrick John Dynon	3-Sep-1942	22
Private	Keith Joseph Robinson	3-Sep-1942	22
Acting Corporal	Frederick William Cheesewright	4-Sep-1942	27
Private	Harold Albert Hillier	4-Sep-1942	22
Lance Corporal	Edward George Linto	4-Sep-1942	31
Private	Leonard Cornelius O'Brien	4-Sep-1942	26
Lance Corporal	Gerald Hughes Watts	4-Sep-1942	25
Private	Charles Edwin Kevin Dalling	6-Sep-1942	22
Lance Corporal	Lindsay Dwyer Cavenett	7-Sep-1942	29
Private	George Donald Davis	7-Sep-1942	26
SCDT Dagan
Corporal	Maxwell Henry Doudle	7-Sep-1942	29
Private	Allan Hissey	7-Sep-1942	31
Private	Henry Arthur Johnston	7-Sep-1942	22
Private	James Miller	7-Sep-1942	27
Private	William Joseph Neville O'Neill	7-Sep-1942	33
Private	James Rogerson	7-Sep-1942	38
Private	Thomas Austin Tee	7-Sep-1942	25
Corporal	John Henry Thomas	7-Sep-1942	30
Private	Lawrence Leslie Allen	8-Sep-1942	20
Private	Ronald George Anderson	8-Sep-1942	24
Private	Frederick William Balchin	8-Sep-1942	24
Private	George Peter Bennett	8-Sep-1942	19
Private	Rupert Horace Blundy	8-Sep-1942	23
Private	Frederick John Bryant	8-Sep-1942	21
Private	Neil Butler	8-Sep-1942	28
Private	Edward Leonard Churcher	8-Sep-1942	38
Private	Walter Allan Clark	8-Sep-1942	30
Acting Sergeant	James Colquhoun	8-Sep-1942	35
Sergeant	William George Cott	8-Sep-1942	33
Private	Henry Winson Cousins	8-Sep-1942	26
Private	Llewellyn Warwick Albert Dix	8-Sep-1942	21
Acting Corporal	Edward Alfred Donovan	8-Sep-1942	30
Private	Donald Alexander Fairlie	8-Sep-1942	27
Private	Raymond Alfred Farnsworth	8-Sep-1942	24
Warrant Officer Class 2	Thomas Sydney Foy	8-Sep-1942	40
Private	Victor Eric Franklin	8-Sep-1942	27
Private	Frank William Giles	8-Sep-1942	20
Private	Alfred Bertram Gosch	8-Sep-1942	23
Private	Horace Melbourne Gray	8-Sep-1942	23
Acting Corporal	Charles Henry Harris	8-Sep-1942	28
Private	Joseph Harvey	8-Sep-1942	36
Private	Ronald Eric Haskell	8-Sep-1942	30
Corporal	Albert Thomas Hayes	8-Sep-1942	26
Private	Robert Charles Hillman	8-Sep-1942	31
Lance Corporal	Mervyn Henry Illman	8-Sep-1942	24
Acting Corporal	Robert Lindsay Kelton	8-Sep-1942	24
Private	Clarence Thomas Kempton	8-Sep-1942	26
Private	Lloyd George Kerferd	8-Sep-1942	23
Private	Horace Vivian Knott	8-Sep-1942	22
Lieutenant	Henry Lambert	8-Sep-1942	29
Captain	Breton Douglas Norman Langridge	8-Sep-1942	23
Lance Corporal	Victor Charles Lowe	8-Sep-1942	29
SCDT Tomlin
Private	Edgar Matthews	8-Sep-1942	28
Acting Corporal	Charles Reginald McCallum	8-Sep-1942	35
Private	Patrick Gerard McDonald	8-Sep-1942	24
Private	Terence Augustin McDonald	8-Sep-1942	20
Private	Christopher McKinley	8-Sep-1942	26
Corporal	Eric Thomas McNamara	8-Sep-1942	28
Private	John Patrick Moore	8-Sep-1942	24
Private	Graham Munro	8-Sep-1942	20
Captain	Claude Charles Purvis Nye	8-Sep-1942	25
Private	James O'Brien	8-Sep-1942	23
Sergeant	Henry Alan O'Loughlin	8-Sep-1942	28
Private	Stanley James Oppy	8-Sep-1942	35
Private	Keith Aubrey Page	8-Sep-1942	22
Private	Charles Arthur Phease	8-Sep-1942	25
Private	James Henry Ralph	8-Sep-1942	21
Private	Francis Reid	8-Sep-1942	34
Lance Sergeant	Maxwell James Rutter	8-Sep-1942	22
Private	James Patrick Scullion	8-Sep-1942	27
Private	Joseph Louis Tagliaferri	8-Sep-1942	22
Lance Corporal	George Alexander Thom	8-Sep-1942	32
Private	William James Thompson	8-Sep-1942	25
Lance Corporal	George Murray Tipper	8-Sep-1942	28
Private	Frank Utting	8-Sep-1942	22
Lieutenant	Hurman Vivian-Williams	8-Sep-1942	32
Private	John Norman Wilkinson	8-Sep-1942	26
Private	Denis George Thomas Wills	8-Sep-1942	24
Sergeant	Harry Randal Wilson	8-Sep-1942	23
Private	Ronald Darcy York	8-Sep-1942	24
Private	Joseph Attard	9-Sep-1942	35
Private	Cyril Howard Beveridge	9-Sep-1942	29
Lance Corporal	John Gill	9-Sep-1942	36
Private	John Miles Bernard Keane	9-Sep-1942	21
Private	George Logue	9-Sep-1942	22
Private	Reginald Marr	9-Sep-1942	23
Sergeant	John Maurice Matthews	9-Sep-1942	23
Private	Albert George Thomas Osborn	9-Sep-1942	27
Private	Walter Kelsey Rowland	9-Sep-1942	24
Private	Ernest George Scriven	9-Sep-1942	27
Private	George Arthur David Stewart	9-Sep-1942	21
Private	Albert Edwin Turner	9-Sep-1942	24
Private	Eric Grose Vial	9-Sep-1942	29
Sergeant	Herbert Phillip Warman	9-Sep-1942	23
Private	David Edward Wooton	9-Sep-1942	25
SCDT Grennan
Private	Albert Bell	10-Sep-1942	29
Private	Leonard Vincent Bowe	10-Sep-1942	25
Private	Francis Charles Dyer	10-Sep-1942	23
Private	Clifford William Follett	10-Sep-1942	23
Private	Robert Hamilton	10-Sep-1942	33
Private	Robert Horwood	10-Sep-1942	34
Lieutenant Colonel	Arthur Samuel Key	10-Sep-1942	36
Private	Alexander Macpherson	10-Sep-1942	23
Acting Corporal	Pietro Guiseppe Moltoni	10-Sep-1942	38
Private	Max Gordon Stead	10-Sep-1942	20
Private	Clarence Robert Tice	10-Sep-1942	29
Corporal	Lewis Leslie Waller	10-Sep-1942	22
Private	Robert Watt	10-Sep-1942	26
Warrant Officer Class 2	Wilfred Alexander Noble	11-Sep-1942	25
Lieutenant	Graham Maxwell Barclay	13-Sep-1942	27
Private	Harold Roy Haines	13-Sep-1942	22
Corporal	Roland Lamb	13-Sep-1942	31
Private	John Alexander Nelson	13-Sep-1942	22
Private	Thomas Richards	13-Sep-1942	20
Private	Hugh Gerald Dutton	14-Sep-1942	41
Acting Corporal	Kevin Alfred George	14-Sep-1942	24
Lance Corporal	Edward Alexander Lowe	14-Sep-1942	27
Lieutenant	Desmond King MacDonnell	14-Sep-1942	27
Private	William Angus McDonald	14-Sep-1942	34
Private	Frederick Thomas Newman	14-Sep-1942	25
Private	Lewis Claude Joseph Peyton	14-Sep-1942	22
Corporal	Brian Keane Potter	14-Sep-1942	25
Lance Corporal	Alexander James Taylor	14-Sep-1942	30
Private	Kevin Bryan Tonkin	14-Sep-1942	21
Private	John Baker	15-Sep-1942	26
Acting Corporal	Harold Adrian Bradford	15-Sep-1942	28
Private	Leonard Knowling Caldecott	15-Sep-1942	21
Private	Frederick Carr	15-Sep-1942	32
Private	Clarence Thomas Charles	15-Sep-1942	24
Private	William Charles Coghlan	15-Sep-1942	33
Private	Leonard Edwards	15-Sep-1942	21
Private	Alan Jenkinson	15-Sep-1942	32
Lance Corporal	Charles Victor Lintott	15-Sep-1942	24
Lieutenant	John Sinclair Mosley	15-Sep-1942	28
Private	Peter James Reardon	15-Sep-1942	41
Private	Norman Wallace Smethurst	15-Sep-1942	20
Private	Robert Mitchell Solomon	15-Sep-1942	31
Lance Corporal	William John Thompson	15-Sep-1942	20
SCDT Chanda
Private	John Louis Tweedie	15-Sep-1942	23
Private	James Ambrose Wells	15-Sep-1942	32
Private	Robert Leonard Whitfield	15-Sep-1942	33
Private	Lance Thomas Brooks	16-Sep-1942	29
Corporal	Laurence Harold Bruggemann	16-Sep-1942	23
Private	Frank Dawson	16-Sep-1942	27
Private	Claude Morrison Green	16-Sep-1942	30
Acting Corporal	Keith Grey-Smith	16-Sep-1942	22
Acting Corporal	James William Hayward	16-Sep-1942	27
Private	Joseph Charles James	16-Sep-1942	26
Sergeant	Sydney Douglas Johnston	16-Sep-1942	35
Private	Alec Maley Jones	16-Sep-1942	21
Private	Alan Roy Luckel	16-Sep-1942	23
Private	Hector John MacRae	16-Sep-1942	29
Private	Jeffrey Nolan Usher	16-Sep-1942	24
Private	Alexander Roy Matschoss	17-Sep-1942	34
Private	Herbert Jack Mothersole	17-Sep-1942	23
Private	Clyde Ronald Ramsey	17-Sep-1942	24
Corporal	Albert William Cook	18-Sep-1942	35
Private	Wilbur Lloyd Cahill	21-Sep-1942	26
Lance Corporal	William Lionel Wade	21-Sep-1942	25
Lieutenant	John Hamilton Izatt	22-Sep-1942	23
Lance Corporal	Frank Lionel Jones	22-Sep-1942	29
Corporal	Allan Michael Kennedy	22-Sep-1942	23
Lieutenant	Edward Augustus Dullard	24-Sep-1942	25
Private	Archibald Norman Gash	24-Sep-1942	24
Private	Roy Sydney Jones	24-Sep-1942	22
Private	George Liggins	24-Sep-1942	26
Corporal	Leonard Thomas Williams	24-Sep-1942	41
Private	Lloyd George Graham	25-Sep-1942	23
Private	William James Golden	27-Sep-1942	22
Private	Bruce Edward Kurtz	27-Sep-1942	21
Private	John Thomas Burke	28-Sep-1942	25
Private	Henry Leonard Salter	30-Sep-1942	26
Private	Charles Maxwell McGillivray	1-October-1942	22
Private	Francis Alexander Waugh	1-October-1942	32
Private	Thomas Joseph Fletcher	4-October-1942	41
Private	Stanley Robert Hunter	4-October-1942	21
Acting Sergeant	Raymond Jack Knights	4-October-1942	22
Private	James Alexander Macdonald	4-October-1942	22
Private	Ambrose Mayne	4-October-1942	37
Corporal	John Arthur Metson	4-October-1942	24
Private	Tom Snelgar	4-October-1942	29
SCDT McKiggan
Private	Charles Henry Yeo	4-October-1942	30
Private	Richard Gordon Fisher	7-October-1942	24
Sergeant	Wallace Charlton Patterson	7-October-1942	40
Acting Sergeant	Walter James Wakefield	7-October-1942	26
Private	Philip Thomas De Lisle Reaney	8-October-1942	19
Sergeant	Rowland Hugh Argyle Bourke	9-October-1942	27
Private	Albert Henry King	9-October-1942	23
Private	Sydney James McClure	9-October-1942	26
Private	Norman Edward Lloyd	10-October-1942	20
Private	S Jeffrey Evans	11-October-1942	24
Private	John Wennerbom	11-October-1942	18
Private	Alex Roland Erp	12-October-1942	22
Private	Reginald Gordon Foott	12-October-1942	24
Private	Leslie Charles Gunns	12-October-1942	19
Private	Gordon Keith Ludbrook	12-October-1942	25
Corporal	Henry Broomfield	13-October-1942	28
Private	Arthur William Carr	13-October-1942	32
Private	Francis John Noonan	13-October-1942	23
Corporal	Terence William Campbell	14-October-1942	21
Private	Edward John James	14-October-1942	19
Private	John Thomas Ryan	14-October-1942	25
Lieutenant	Herbert Arthur Warne	14-October-1942	25
Acting Corporal	Frederick Patrick Woods	14-October-1942	19
Private	David Langlands Walker	15-October-1942	22
Private	Keith Thomas Sullivan	16-October-1942	24
Private	Joseph Thomas Waters	16-October-1942	23
Corporal	William Stephen Barnes	17-October-1942	23
Private	Edward Joseph Bilsborough	17-October-1942	20
Private	Walter Clarke	17-October-1942	31
Private	William George D'Arcy	17-October-1942	35
Sergeant	Cornelius Placid Hogan	17-October-1942	30
Private	Charles Ronald Murphy	17-October-1942	25
Private	Lloyd Thomas Reeves	17-October-1942	21
Lance Corporal	John Graham Boulton	18-October-1942	19
Private	Kevin Michael Cosgrove	18-October-1942	22
Private	John Stanley Jones	18-October-1942	28
Private	Arnold Roy Kemp	18-October-1942	23
Corporal	Roy Gregor McGregor	18-October-1942	23
Acting Corporal	Robert Rogerson	18-October-1942	27
Private	Leslie James Arnall	19-October-1942	20
Private	Albert Charles Blake	19-October-1942	22
Private	George Leonard Farrell Bliss	19-October-1942	20
Private	Daniel Boland	19-October-1942	29
SCDT Rayalu
Private	Harold Thomas Burgoyne	19-October-1942	28
Lance Corporal	Maxwell Harold Croome	19-October-1942	21
Private	Clifford John Fuller	19-October-1942	21
Acting Corporal	Kenneth William Golsby	19-October-1942	23
Private	William Gordon Jones	19-October-1942	25
Corporal	Henri Edwin Mallard	19-October-1942	24
Private	Albert Edwin Shorley	19-October-1942	32
Private	Michael Joseph Skelly	19-October-1942	28
Private	Edmund Stokoe	19-October-1942	38
Corporal	Harry James Williams	19-October-1942	23
Private	William Stanley Williams	19-October-1942	22
Lieutenant	Reginald Norman Blain	20-October-1942	24
Private	Walter Tyrrell Boyd	20-October-1942	26
Lance Sergeant	Hilary York Seccombe Brown	20-October-1942	23
Private	Leslie Charles Cook	20-October-1942	30
Private	Frank Joseph Cudby	20-October-1942	37
Private	Charles Benjamin Dates	20-October-1942	23
Corporal	Ronald Frederick Dunne	20-October-1942	25
Private	Charles Stanley George	20-October-1942	28
Lieutenant	Wallace Drummond Hall	20-October-1942	25
Private	Clive Wellington Hutchens	20-October-1942	41
Private	Ronald Leonard Kelly	20-October-1942	22
Private	Alfred Henry Kerr	20-October-1942	29
Corporal	Desmond Grimley King	20-October-1942	25
Private	Frank Knight	20-October-1942	26
Private	Allan Stewart Knox	20-October-1942	21
Private	Hugh Macneil MacPherson	20-October-1942	22
Corporal	Thomas Alic McIntosh	20-October-1942	27
Private	Vertred Henry O'Dea	20-October-1942	24
Private	Joseph John Rodriguez	20-October-1942	28
Private	George Steel	20-October-1942	34
Private	William Gerald Tait	20-October-1942	27
Lieutenant	Richard Roy Tanner	20-October-1942	25
Private	Frederick Trad	20-October-1942	20
Private	Harold Richard Noel Webber	20-October-1942	21
Private	Oswald William Wood	20-October-1942	22
Private	David John Fernance	21-October-1942	26
Private	Thomas Frederick Johnson	21-October-1942	33
Private	Edward Samuel Munday	21-October-1942	19
Corporal	Ronald Rothwell Rothery	21-October-1942	22
Private	Edward David James Bentley	22-October-1942	27
Private	William Clarence Edmonds	22-October-1942	21
Private	William Gordon Jackson	22-October-1942	35
SCDT Fitzgerald
Private	John Walter James	22-October-1942	20
Private	Clinton Machin	22-October-1942	35
Private	Norman Charles McKewen	22-October-1942	38
Private	Harold Edward Mulder	22-October-1942	20
Private	Francis Leslie Richardson	22-October-1942	29
Sergeant	George Rudd	22-October-1942	29
Private	Ronald Kenneth Woodward	22-October-1942	22
Private	Eric Norman Andrews	23-October-1942	25
Captain	Peter Barclay	23-October-1942	28
Private	Thomas Barton Boyce	23-October-1942	24
Private	Daniel Edward Boyle	23-October-1942	29
Private	William Bratton	23-October-1942	34
Private	Henry William Buttel	23-October-1942	21
Private	Frederick James Campbell	23-October-1942	27
Private	Raymond John Daly	23-October-1942	28
Private	Leonard Ewington	23-October-1942	23
Lance Corporal	Arthur John Gilsenan	23-October-1942	22
Lance Corporal	John Lennis Hunt	23-October-1942	30
Lieutenant	Keith Johnston	23-October-1942	27
Private	Roy Garnet Jones	23-October-1942	23
Private	George Leonard	23-October-1942	32
Private	Guy Eric Manusu	23-October-1942	23
Private	Ernest George McTavish	23-October-1942	27
Private	Ralph William Metcalfe	23-October-1942	24
Acting Corporal	Norman Redpath	23-October-1942	28
Private	Douglas Vivian Rix	23-October-1942	25
Captain	Alexander Gwyther Sanderson	23-October-1942	34
Private	Stephen Phineas Sheldon	23-October-1942	20
Private	Francis Oliver Goldsmith Sproule	23-October-1942	30
Lance Corporal	Peter Nevil Tooth	23-October-1942	21
Private	Lloyd George Waters	23-October-1942	22
Gunner	Benjamin Webb	23-October-1942	28
Private	Gavin Robertson Thomas Wynd	23-October-1942	21
Private	Theodore Patrick Barrett	24-October-1942	22
Private	Francis Edward Fielden Caine	24-October-1942	28
Warrant Officer Class 1	Gordon Wallace Duff	24-October-1942	27
Private	Jack William Gordon	24-October-1942	22
Lieutenant	Ernest William Grigg	24-October-1942	25
Sergeant	Denis Richard Hickson	24-October-1942	23
Lance Sergeant	Keith Noel Lever	24-October-1942	24
Private	Mark Theo Morschel	24-October-1942	30
Private	Brian Hugh Outram	24-October-1942	24
SCDT Eastwood
Private	Kenneth Melville Shepherd	24-October-1942	23
Lance Corporal	Charles Frederick Williams	24-October-1942	24
Corporal	Michael John Hayes	25-October-1942	26
Private	Victor Platt	25-October-1942	31
Private	George Clarence Durrington	26-October-1942	24
Private	Clarence Alwyn Hard	26-October-1942	29
Corporal	Stephen Edward Burcher	27-October-1942	22
Sergeant	Ronald James Cadell	27-October-1942	36
Lance Corporal	John Joseph Clemance	27-October-1942	26
Private	Alexander Delaland	27-October-1942	24
Private	Francis John Hill	27-October-1942	23
Corporal	John Reuben Logan	27-October-1942	22
Private	Alfred Pericles Manusu	27-October-1942	28
Private	John Bede Murray	27-October-1942	31
Private	Robert Charles Whalan	27-October-1942	28
Private	Angus Stephen Collins	28-October-1942	22
Private	Herbert Albert Charles Cummings	28-October-1942	22
Private	Francis James Emmett	28-October-1942	37
Corporal	Eden Stanley Falkner	28-October-1942	22
Private	Daniel Joseph Kelly	28-October-1942	31
Lieutenant	William Henry Nichols	28-October-1942	24
Private	Edward Davidson Ogg	28-October-1942	32
Corporal	George Henry Parkes	28-October-1942	26
Private	John Gibson Schipp	28-October-1942	21
Private	Leslie John Sheedy	28-October-1942	22
Private	Francis Collier Shields	28-October-1942	25
Lance Corporal	Orville John Simmons	28-October-1942	25
Private	Arthur Eric Smith	28-October-1942	20
Private	George Henry Smith	28-October-1942	22
Private	John Robert Young	28-October-1942	28
Lance Corporal	William George Johnston	29-October-1942	22
Private	Walter James Rodriguez	29-October-1942	23
Private	Joseph Roy Smith	30-October-1942	26
Acting Corporal	Ernest Samuel Johnston	31-October-1942	29
Private	John Eustace Douglas Hook	1-November-1942	31
Sergeant	Joseph Colpitts	3-November-1942	42
Private	Richard Daryl Jones	4-November-1942	21
Acting Sergeant	Arthur Roy Blackwell	5-November-1942	27
Private	Leslie Lawrence Cross	5-November-1942	37
Private	Frederick Moran	5-November-1942	20
SCDT Tolhurst
Private	Thomas Richard William Casey	6-November-1942	23
Private	Frederick George Critchley	6-November-1942	23
Private	Allan Caddy Edwards	6-November-1942	24
Private	William John Finnerty	6-November-1942	42
Private	Arthur Hanson	6-November-1942	27
Private	Archbold Hetherington	6-November-1942	19
Corporal	Alan Hutchison	6-November-1942	36
Private	Charles Henry Johnson	6-November-1942	31
Private	William Henry Lawson	6-November-1942	20
Private	Rees John Brydon Mackay	6-November-1942	29
Lance Sergeant	Frederick David Howard Murray	6-November-1942	23
Corporal	Lester George Pett	6-November-1942	28
Private	Leonard William Purss	6-November-1942	28
Lance Corporal	Richard Burt Spencer	6-November-1942	24
Private	Allan Edward Toyer	6-November-1942	22
Private	Roland James Watt	6-November-1942	25
Private	Leonard Vincent Whitley	6-November-1942	20
Private	Kenneth Arthur Burton	7-November-1942	20
Acting Corporal	Alan Edward Findlay	7-November-1942	25
Private	Joseph Rorkin	7-November-1942	16
Acting Corporal	Jeffrey Haggard Delabare Walker	7-November-1942	24
Corporal	Sydney Peter Campbell	8-November-1942	33
Private	William James Francis Carberry	8-November-1942	27
Private	John William Clout	8-November-1942	19
Corporal	Richard Joseph Donnelly	8-November-1942	30
Private	George Horsfield	8-November-1942	23
Private	Kenneth Patrick Lowe	8-November-1942	21
Private	Ivor Luscombe	8-November-1942	24
Private	Donald Gordon McEwan	8-November-1942	20
Private	Douglas Stanley Price	8-November-1942	24
Lance Corporal	Jack Rowley	8-November-1942	20
Private	Clyde Skelly	8-November-1942	29
Private	Oliver John Tucker	8-November-1942	22
Lance Corporal	Norman George Arthur	9-November-1942	21
Lance Corporal	Frank Thomas Bothwick Clarke	9-November-1942	21
Private	Arthur William Day	9-November-1942	26
Private	Neville Edlundh	9-November-1942	20
Lieutenant	Charles Ernest Gataker	9-November-1942	29
Private	Maxwell James Goldie	9-November-1942	29
Sergeant	William Beswick Hall	9-November-1942	22
SCDT Erasmus
Private	William La'Frentz	9-November-1942	29
Private	Thomas Clifford Henry Lee	9-November-1942	29
Lance Corporal	John Joseph Louis	9-November-1942	19
Acting Corporal	Robert Mather	9-November-1942	22
Private	Duncan Charles McLachlan	9-November-1942	24
Private	Thomas James Pearson	9-November-1942	31
Private	Leslie Gordon Poole	9-November-1942	33
Lieutenant	Laurence Edward Powell	9-November-1942	29
Lieutenant	Kenneth Sydney Robertson	9-November-1942	33
Private	Charlie Ryan	9-November-1942	29
Private	Patrick Leo Sheehan	9-November-1942	29
Private	Clarence Francis Skelton	9-November-1942	24
Corporal	Gordon Stockbridge	9-November-1942	24
Corporal	Clarence James Vivian	9-November-1942	24
Lance Corporal	Archibald George Walkden	9-November-1942	21
Private	Herbert Eric Walter	9-November-1942	22
Private	Thomas Wood	9-November-1942	32
Lance Corporal	George Edward Armstrong	10-November-1942	31
Corporal	Harry Skyring Baylis	10-November-1942	25
Temporary Captain	Patrick Lloyd Brinkley	10-November-1942	26
Lance Corporal	Cyril Daniels	10-November-1942	35
Private	Harold George Dennison	10-November-1942	24
Corporal	Arnold Wilson Dethridge	10-November-1942	31
Private	Ronald Reuben Dyer	10-November-1942	21
Corporal	Peter Esplin	10-November-1942	31
Lieutenant	Ralph Campbell Cowan Fletcher	10-November-1942	24
Private	Thomas Donald Foley	10-November-1942	27
Private	William John Griffith Fowler	10-November-1942	22
Private	George Edmond Gates	10-November-1942	19
Private	Oliver James Hawkins	10-November-1942	27
Private	Walter John Lloyd	10-November-1942	28
Private	Richard Charles Loft	10-November-1942	27
Private	Norman Harold Matheson	10-November-1942	22
Private	James Matthew McCreath	10-November-1942	29
Corporal	Grenville Frank Noble	10-November-1942	28
Private	Malachy O'Sullivan	10-November-1942	25
Private	James Frederick Ramsay	10-November-1942	31
Private	Cecil Rhodes	10-November-1942	36
Private	Charles Robert Scott	10-November-1942	21
Corporal	Edley Simmonds	10-November-1942	29
Private	James Mountain Simmonds	10-November-1942	28
Corporal	Trevor Francis Simpson	10-November-1942	22
SCDT Tilly
Lance Corporal	Alfred Leonard Sorensen	10-November-1942	30
Acting Lance Corporal	Robert James Stewart	10-November-1942	23
Private	John Albert Taylor	10-November-1942	43
Private	Alan Edgar Andrews	11-November-1942	26
Private	Lloyd Windemere Beedham	11-November-1942	26
Lieutenant	Charles Henry Dennis Birnie	11-November-1942	23
Lance Corporal	Cecil James Boyle	11-November-1942	32
Private	Bruce Bryson	11-November-1942	23
Acting Warrant Officer Class 2	Cecil John Bullingham	11-November-1942	34
Private	Joseph William Byrne	11-November-1942	22
Private	Ronald Duncan Chaney	11-November-1942	25
Private	Frank Thomas Cheetham	11-November-1942	29
Corporal	John Richard Coghlan	11-November-1942	23
Corporal	Ralph Graham Davidson	11-November-1942	23
Private	Jack Henry Gaudry	11-November-1942	21
Lance Corporal	Ronald Francis Hardy	11-November-1942	23
Private	Keith Richard Hargreaves	11-November-1942	37
Acting Sergeant	Thomas Norman Cotgrave House	11-November-1942	35
Corporal	Frederick John Johnson	11-November-1942	42
Lieutenant	Roy Mackay	11-November-1942	27
Private	Frank Mason	11-November-1942	28
Acting Sergeant	Neil Bruce McMullen	11-November-1942	37
Sergeant	Thomas John O'Brien	11-November-1942	25
Private	Albert Edward Perryman	11-November-1942	29
Private	Frederick James Ramsay	11-November-1942	34
Private	Thomas Ashley Ramsay	11-November-1942	24
Lance Corporal	Thomas Justin Shanahan	11-November-1942	22
Private	Basil Bernard Shaw	11-November-1942	23
Private	Ernest Edward Thirkell	11-November-1942	28
Major	Edward Thorne	11-November-1942	40
Private	Frank Watling	11-November-1942	39
Private	Keith Alan Wilson	11-November-1942	22
Sergeant	Kenneth Thomas Wood	11-November-1942	36
Private	John Donald Terrance Burke	12-November-1942	35
Private	John Gregory Cunningham	12-November-1942	27
Private	Bruce Gordon Esdaile	12-November-1942	20
Private	Alexander Vincent McKinnon	12-November-1942	23
Private	R Stanley Sheedy	12-November-1942	19
Private	Edwin Alfred Waterson	12-November-1942	24
Private	Walter Edward Smith	13-November-1942	22
Private	Albert Lindsay Pearson	14-November-1942	25
Private	Jack Wilkinson Barton	15-November-1942	20
Private	Edwin Hamlin	15-November-1942	26
Private	Cecil Charles Thompson	15-November-1942	30
Private	James Arthur Varney	15-November-1942	22
Private	Edward Patrick Donald Jamieson	16-November-1942	24
Acting Corporal	Reginald Charles Knaggs	21-November-1942	40

Closing Remarks - Dr Brendan Nelson, Director Australian War Memorial

It is only natural, human beings that we are, to settle for headlines, broad brushstrokes of popular imagery and mythology of our history. Our comfortable lives, 75 years on, breed easy indifference to these individual sacrifices that have been made in our name, devotion to duty and to our country.

We have heard the names of 641 Australian men, from 16 years old to 66, most of them in their early twenties.

Among them Bruce Kingsbury, posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.

Of Lieutenant Harry Bissett, commander of 10 Platoon, having sustained eleven Japanese attack on the perimeter defence, distributing grenades to his men late in the afternoon of the 29th August, being wounded, four men volunteering under fire to take him back behind the lines and then dying over four hours in his brother’s arms.

Of Charles Mccallum, an only son, a farmer from South Gippsland, who volunteered to cover the withdrawal of the 12th Platoon with a Bren gun. He fired into the advancing Japanese, scooped up a Thompson sub-machine gun from a dying mate, fired that while he put another magazine into the Bren, so close were the Japanese that one died on him. He was recommended for the Victoria Cross, received the Distinguished Conduct Medal and died on the Track on the 8th September. His mother carried that medal in her purse every day, until the day she died.

Frank Rolleston went back in 1976, he had fought in the Milne Bay campaign which occurred when all this was happening at Kokoda and there was an Anzac Day service and he said this,

‘It is a rather strange feeling to walk along the rows of graves and see name after name of men a person knew well. At Buna, my Company Commander, Platoon Officer, Section Leader, Sergeant-Major and others lost their lives, and my thoughts went back to that morning on the 18th December, 1942 as I lay with my Bren gun waiting for dawn and the attack on Buna, with Charlie Alder on one side of me and “Rusty” Bain on the other. Both men were shot dead that first day and as I gazed at their graves, I realised just how easily I could have been lying in Bomana Cemetery.

Looking at the headstones and the ages of the sleepers below, I realised that the majority seemed to have been dead longer than they had lived, and I realised the truth of the saying that "They shall not grow old as we who are left behind grow old," for I remembered these men as in their youth, and yet had they lived, they would have changed with the years.’

We will remember them, in the morning and in the evening.

For we are young and we are free.

Thank you for being here this morning.

We have 150 members of the House of Representatives in our national parliament, one is here this morning. Jason Clare.

I’d also like to recognise Dick Payton a man who served up there in the 2/6th (Battalion). Welcome, and thank you for being here Dick to help us remember all of them.

Thank you.

Last updated: 30 March 2021