The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX46180) Corporal Colin Edward Bowman, 2/20th Battalion, Second Australian Imperial Force, 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 Greg Kimball, the story for this day was on (NX46180) Corporal Colin Edward Bowman, 2/20th Battalion, Second Australian Imperial Force, Second World War.

NX46180 Corporal Colin Edward Bowman, 2/20th Battalion, Second Australian Imperial Force
Died of illness 18 January 1944
Story delivered 2 March 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal Colin Edward Bowman.

Born in Ballina, New South Wales, on 2 October 1913, Colin Bowman was the son of Samuel and Lilian Bowman.

Before his enlistment in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 3 July 1940, Colin Bowman had been employed in a butter factory.

After enlisting, he was posted to the 2/20th Battalion, part of the 22nd Brigade of the Australian 8th Division. In February 1941 the 22nd Brigade embarked for overseas service aboard the famous ocean liner the Queen Mary, which had been converted into a troopship. When it arrived in Singapore, the 22nd Brigade joined the garrison forces in Malaya.

With Japan’s entry into the war in December 1941, the Malayan peninsula was invaded by Japanese forces. From mid-January 1942, the units of the 8th Division were involved in fierce fighting against the Japanese. By the beginning of February the British and Commonwealth forces had been pushed back to the island of Singapore, and on the night of 8-9 February, Japanese forces began landing on Singapore island. The 22nd Brigade bore the brunt of the Japanese landing on the north-western area of Singapore, and heavy casualties were inflicted on both sides.

On 15 February 1942, after weeks of fierce fighting, Singapore fell. Corporal Bowman became one of 45,000 Australian and British troops captured in the surrender. He spent the first period of his imprisonment at Selarang Barracks in the large prisoner of war camp at Changi, Singapore.

During 1942, Japan began transporting large work parties of prisoners of war from Singapore to various parts of its empire. In November, Bowman became part of C Force, which was sent to Japan.
Arriving in Japan in the middle of a northern winter, Bowman was among a group of Australians sent to the prisoner of war camp at Naoetsu – also known as prisoner of war camp Tokyo 4–B.

Naoetsu was the worst camp encountered by Australian prisoners of war in Japan. The guards were particularly cruel, beatings were common, the prisoners slaved on work details, and rations were at a starvation level. Of the 300 Australians sent to the camp at Naoetsu, 60 died.

Among them was Colin Bowman: suffering from croup, pneumonia and beri beri, he died of illness on 18 January 1944. He was 30 years old.

Bowman is buried in the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery at Yokohama, Japan. The epitaph on his gravestone, chosen by his family, reads: “How shall we show our love to thee, who givest all?”

His name is listed here on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 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 Corporal Colin Edward Bowman, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section