The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX35409) Corporal Charles Harry Orme, 2/19th Battalion det 2/20th Battalion, AIF, 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (NX35409) Corporal Charles Harry Orme, 2/19th Battalion det 2/20th Battalion, AIF, Second World War.

NX35409 Corporal Charles Harry Orme,

2/19th Battalion det. 2/20th Battalion, Second Australian Imperial Force

Killed in action 15 February 1942

No photograph in collection

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal Charles Harry Orme.

Born in Narrandera, New South Wales, on 2 April 1904, Charles Orme was the son of Frederick and Emma Orme. In 1931 he wed Doris Handley in Sydney, and they settled in Boree Creek in the Riverina district of New South Wales. Before enlisting in the Second Australian Imperial Force following the outbreak of the Second World War, Orme worked as farmer and had three children: Bill, Betty and Ian.

Orme was posted to the 2/19th Battalion of the 22nd Brigade as part of the Australian 8th Division. In February 1941 the 22nd Brigade embarked for overseas service aboard the famous Queen Mary ocean liner, which had been converted to a troopship. On 18 February the Queen Mary arrived in Singapore, where the 22nd Brigade joined the garrison forces in Malaya.

Following Japan’s entry into the war on 7 December 1941 the Malay Peninsula was invaded by Japanese forces. From mid-January 1942 units of the 8th Division would be involved in fierce fighting against the enemy.

On 6 January, the 2/19th’s D Company, including Orme, had been sent north to Endau, on the coast, to support a company of the 2/20th Battalion. When the Australians withdrew from Endau on 17 January, Orme, with 16 Platoon had been on a river patrol and were cut off. The survivors made it back to Jemaluang on the 20th and rejoined their battalion at Johor Bahru on January 26th. Wounded, Orme was hospitalised there.

The remainder of the 2/19th saw action in mid-January 1942 around Bakri, but was forced to withdraw from its position in the face of the Japanese onslaught. On 20 January they were among Australian and Indian soldiers encircled by Japanese forces at Parit Sulong. After intense fighting, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Anderson, the 2/19th’s commanding officer ordered the fit men to break out and attempt to make it back to British lines.

By the beginning of February the British and Commonwealth forces had been pushed back to the island of Singapore, where the Japanese forces began landing on the night of 8 February. On 10 February Orme, having sufficiently recovered from his wounds, returned to the lines and was detached to the 2/20th Battalion. The 22nd Brigade bore the brunt of the attack on the north-western area of Singapore, and heavy casualties were inflicted upon either side.

At 8.30 pm on 15 February 1942 the guns fell silent; the British and Commonwealth forces had surrendered. Orme was among those reported missing, and was presumed to have been killed during the final day of fighting on Singapore. He was one of almost 1,800 Australians killed in the month-long campaign in Malaya and Singapore, and one of almost 900 Australians killed during just one week of fighting on Singapore Island.

Being initially reported as missing, it was some time before the Orme family was officially informed of Charles’s death, and his body was never recovered from the battlefield. He was 37 years old.

Corporal Charles Harry Orme’s name is listed on the Singapore Memorial at the Kranji War Cemetery, as well as here, on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with the names of almost 40,000 Australians killed 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 Corporal Charles Harry Orme, and all of those Australians who gave their lives in service of their nation.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section