The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (QX7343) Private Lyle Hicks, 2/9th 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 Robyn Siers, the story for this day was on (QX7343) Private Lyle Hicks, 2/9th Battalion, Second World War.

QX7343 Private Lyle Hicks, 2/9th Battalion
KIA 18 December 1942
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 26 September 2014

Today we remember Private Lyle Hicks, who was killed in action in December 1942.

Lyle Hicks was born on 27 November 1912 near Bangalow, New South Wales, the youngest of Hamilton and Eliza Hicks’s nine children. Known as “Paul” to his family, Lyle Hicks was a 27-year-old labourer living in Brisbane when he volunteered for the Australian Imperial Force in May 1940.
Two of Hicks’s older brothers had served in the Great War. After completing his initial training, Hicks was allocated as a reinforcement for Queensland’s 2/9th Battalion, one of three battalions of the 7th Division’s 18th Brigade. He embarked for the Middle East in January 1941 and joined his battalion in March.

The 2/9th went into action for the first time a few days later, capturing the Italian outpost of Giarabub in Libya in March. Soon afterwards the brigade was sent to reinforce the Australian and British troops holding Tobruk against besieging German and Italian forces. In early May Hicks injured his ankle and was evacuated back to Egypt. Returning to his battalion in July, the 18th Brigade was withdrawn from Tobruk a month later and the 2/9th Battalion trained in Palestine before joining the forces garrisoning Syria in September.

Following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor and the start of the Pacific war, the 18th Brigade and much of the AIF were recalled to Australia. The 2/9th Battalion left the Middle East in early 1942 and arrived in Australia in March.

In August the battalion was sent with the 18th Brigade to Milne Bay, on Papua’s east coast, to help defend the three air strips under construction there. With desperate fighting taking place along the Kokoda Trail, the Japanese landed an amphibious force at Milne Bay to support their drive on Port Moresby. Hicks’s battalion helped push the enemy back from the airstrips and within a week, after suffering heavy losses, the Japanese evacuated their surviving troops. Milne Bay was the first comprehensive defeat of a Japanese amphibious force during the war.

Having withdrawn back across the Kokoda Trail, the Japanese made their final stand in Papua on the northern beachheads at Buna, Gona, and Sanananda. In December the 18th Brigade moved to Oro Bay, where it became involved in the bloody battles at Buna and Sanananda.

On 18 December the 2/9th Battalion advanced towards Buna. Despite the support of Australian tanks, the infantry suffered horrible losses as they attacked well-constructed and concealed Japanese pillboxes. Snipers were also active. In all, the battalion lost 54 killed and 117 wounded. At one point during the action, a single shot rang out and a corporal near Hicks said, “Did you see where that shot came from?” “No,” Hicks replied, “but it was damn close to me.” As he spoke another shot was fired and Hicks slumped forward dead, shot through the temple. He was 30 years old.

Hicks is buried in Bomana war cemetery, outside Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. He is also commemorated here, on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 Australians who died during the Second World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

We now remember Private Lyle Hicks and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.