The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX104023) Captain Raymond Jesse Allsopp, Australian Army Medical Corps attached to 2/5th Commando Squadron, 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (NX104023) Captain Raymond Jesse Allsopp, Australian Army Medical Corps attached to 2/5th Commando Squadron, Second World War.

NX104023 Captain Raymond Jesse Allsopp, Australian Army Medical Corps attached to 2/5th Commando Squadron
DOW 1 July 1945
Photograph: RC11546

Story delivered 15 August 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Captain Raymond Jesse Allsopp, who died while serving in the Second World War.

Raymond “Doc” Allsopp was born in Parramatta in western Sydney, on 15 June 1915. He was the fourth child and youngest son of Francis and Ellen Allsopp of Baulkham Hills. During the Great War, the eldest child, Timothy “John” Allsopp had enlisted as a 17 year old in October 1918 but was not called up for active service.

Raymond Allsopp attended the Marist Brothers’ High School in Parramatta, and St Joseph’s College at Hunter’s Hill. A gifted student, he went on to complete a medical degree at the University of Sydney. During his second year at university he won the Caird Scholarship for General Proficiency, topping the list of 150 students. Allsopp graduated in 1938 with second place in the honours list, having won prizes for surgery and surgical anatomy. He also edited the journal of the university’s Medical Society.

Allsopp was appointed as a resident medical officer on the staff of Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He subsequently became deputy medical superintendent. After two years at the RPA, Allsopp moved south to a practice in Wollongong.

In July 1941 the 26-year-old doctor was called up for the Militia, serving in the Australian Army Medical Corp. He was posted as regimental medical officer to the 18th Field Ambulance. In March 1942 he married Edna Blackwell at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney. The young couple, however, had little time together, as Allsopp was soon transferred to the AIF. In April 1943 he was serving with the 2/2nd Battalion when Edna Allsopp passed away, and was buried in the Rookward Catholic Cemetery in Sydney. They had been married a little over a year.

In early 1944 Allsopp was attached to the 2/7th Cavalry (Commando) Regiment’s 2/5th Commando Squadron. Some 18 months later, in July 1945, the squadron participated in the 7th Division’s massive amphibious landing at Balikpapan in Borneo. This was Australia’s final campaign of the Second World War.

In the afternoon of 1 July a section from the 2/5th Commando Squadron was ambushed on a low spur, and an officer and a soldier were wounded. Despite being under fire from at least seven Japanese machine-guns, Allsopp went forward to tend to the wounded. He sent the officer back for treatment, but as he began to carry out the other man, Trooper Stephen Usher, the patient was hit again and Allsopp was shot in the left thigh.

Allsopp carried on coolly and calmly, crawling to dress the wounds of yet another soldier before carrying water to the dying Usher. He dressed a fourth soldier’s wounds and carried him to safety. While attempting to rescue yet another badly wounded soldier, Allsopp was mortally wounded by mortar bomb fragments. He had saved the lives of at least three men that day, at the cost of his own.

The squadron’s commander wrote: “I have never known a medical officer to equal him nor have I ever known a braver man.” He recommended Allsopp for a posthumous Victoria Cross. This was supported by the 2/7th Cavalry (Commando) Regiment but dismissed at a higher headquarters. Allsopp was posthumously Mentioned in Despatches. He was 30 years old.

Raymond Allsopp is buried in the Labuan War Cemetery in Sabah, Malaysia. His name is also listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 others from the Second World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Captain Raymond Jesse Allsopp, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Karl James
Historian, Military History Section