The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX4882) Lieutenant Charles William Hildebrandt, 2/3rd Battalion, 2nd 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (NX4882) Lieutenant Charles William Hildebrandt, 2/3rd Battalion, 2nd AIF, Second World War.

NX4882 Lieutenant Charles William Hildebrandt, 2/3rd Battalion, 2nd AIF
KIA 27 June 1941
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 8 June 2016

Today we pay tribute to Lieutenant Charles William Hildebrandt, who was killed on active service during the Second World War.

Born in Wollongong, New South Wales, on 29 June 1909, Charles Hildebrandt was the son of Cecil Charles Hildebrandt and Elizabeth Hildebrandt. He worked as a draper, and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in November 1939, shortly after outbreak of the Second World War.

After a period of training, during which he was promoted to sergeant, Hildebrandt embarked for overseas service in January 1940, as part of the first convoy carrying troops of the Second AIF and Second New Zealand Expeditionary Force to the Middle East.

Arriving in Egypt in February, Hildebrandt disembarked at Kantara near the Suez Canal. After a long period of training with the 16th Australian Infantry Training Battalion, Hildebrant, now lieutenant, was posted to the 2/3rd Battalion.

This battalion first saw action in the Western Desert campaign in January and February 1941, but Hildebrandt missed the fighting as he recovered from a minor illness in hospital. He returned to his battalion in time for its embarkation for Greece in March.

The 2/3rd Battalion was soon deployed north to resist the anticipated German invasion. It occupied positions at Veria, but a succession of withdrawals by the Allies in Greece meant that it did not meet the enemy in battle until mid-April at Tempe Gorge. There, the 2/3rd supported the 2/2nd Battalion and blocked German movement through the gorge, allowing the Allied forces to withdraw further south. The 2/3rd Battalion was forced to withdraw again by nightfall, and its activities in Greece ended with evacuation by sea from Kalamata. The bulk of the battalion returned to Palestine, via Egypt.

In June and July 1941 the 2/3rd Battalion took part in the campaign in Syria and Lebanon against the Vichy French. Normally, the battalion’s men would number 800, but after Greece and Crete it had only 400 men remaining. In June it fought around Damascus and in the unsuccessful effort to secure Jebel Mazar.

It was during the battle for Jebel Mazar that Lieutenant Hildebrandt was killed in action. The 2/3rd Battalion had been tasked with capturing the high ridges that overlooked the main road on which the Australian forces were advancing. Hildebrandt had successfully led his men to take one of the ridges but was killed as the Vichy French forces bombarded the position with mortar fire. He was 31.

His body is buried in the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery in Damascus. His epitaph, chosen by his family, reads:

Deeply loved and sadly missed.
God watch over our boy.

Hildebrandt’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 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 Lieutenant Charles William Hildebrandt, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section