The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (H1617) Ordinary Seaman Edward “Teddy” Sheean, HMAS Armidale, 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 (H1617) Ordinary Seaman Edward “Teddy” Sheean, HMAS Armidale, Second World War.

H1617 Ordinary Seaman Edward “Teddy” Sheean, HMAS Armidale
KIA: 1 December 1942

Today we remember and pay tribute to Ordinary Seaman Edward “Teddy” Sheean.

Edward Sheean was born on 28 December 1923 in Lower Barrington, Tasmania, the youngest surviving child of 14 children born to James and Mary Jane Sheean. Most called him “Teddy”. Raised in Latrobe near Devonport, he attended a local Catholic school. Growing to 5 foot 8 and a half inches tall (174 cm), and well built, Sheean took casual work labouring on farms between Latrobe and Merseylea as a young man.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Teddy enlisted in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve on 21 April 1941. He was 17. Five of his brothers would also serve in the Australian armed forces – four in the army and one in the navy.

Teddy’s initial training was at HMAS Derwent in Hobart, where during December 1941, he gained experience aboard the auxiliary minesweeper HMAS Coombar. Feeling stuck in Tasmania and far from the war, Teddy wrote reassuringly to his mother: “I don’t think you need to be frightened of any of us not coming back.”

In February 1942 Teddy was posted to the training depot HMAS Cerberus on the Westernport side of Mornington Peninsula. Then in May he was drafted to Sydney, where he was stationed at HMAS Penguin, the naval depot on Garden Island. Sheean’s comrades found him quirky and funny, but also saw in him a loyal young man “with many unique traits”.

While in Sydney he was billeted aboard HMAS Kuttabul, a ferry that had been requisitioned by the navy and was moored off Garden Island. As fate would have it, Teddy was home on leave when Kuttabul was sunk by a Japanese midget submarine on the night of 31 May/1 June. Twenty-one sailors died that night.

In June 1942 Teddy joined the newly-commissioned Bathurst-class corvette, HMAS Armidale, where he was assigned the role of loader on one of the ship’s Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns. Armidale initially carried out escort duties along the eastern coast of Australia, and further north in New Guinea waters, between July and the end of October 1942. The ship was then sent to Darwin, arriving on 7 November to join the 24th Minesweeping Flotilla.

On 29 November, Armidale and another corvette, HMAS Castlemaine, were hastily ordered to sail for Timor to reinforce the small Australian force fighting on the island, and to evacuate exhausted troops and Portuguese civilians. As part of Operation Hamburger, Armidale also carried 61 Netherlands East Indies troops, two Dutch officers, and three Australian soldiers to the island as reinforcements.

South of Timor on the morning of 30 November, Armidale and Castlemaine were attacked by a lone Japanese aircraft, but little damage was done. Orders were to press on with the mission, but now that the two vessels had been spotted, concern grew. Sure enough, more enemy aircraft appeared later that day, twice more subjecting the Australian ships to bombing and machine-gunning before being driven off by Australian Beaufighter aircraft. The ships pressed on and reached Betano on the southern coast of Timor before dawn on 1 December.

Later that morning, south of Timor, the two corvettes rendezvoused with the naval tender HMAS Kuru, a smaller vessel that had preceded them, evacuating civilians. These were transferred to HMAS Castlemaine, which immediately shaped course for Darwin. Armidale and Kuru headed back towards Timor to complete the mission. In the early afternoon – under repeated attack from Japanese aircraft – they became separated. Kuru eventually cleared the area and returned to Darwin, but Armidale battled against attacking aircraft well into the afternoon. Fighter cover was called for, but it would not arrive in time.

At 3:15 pm the final air attack commenced. At least seven Japanese Betty bombers and three fighters pressed home their attack. Without support, it was a near-hopeless situation. Armidale’s captain, Lieutenant Commander David Richards, took evasive action, manoeuvring the ship in zig-zag patterns, but before long two torpedoes and possibly a bomb found their mark. Armidale quickly heeled over and rapidly began to sink by the bow. Richards ordered his crew to abandon ship. Teddy and some shipmates worked frantically to cast off rafts and the two ship’s boats as other men leapt into the sea. The Japanese pressed home their attack regardless.

Seeing his helpless comrades being machine-gunned in the water, Teddy Sheean made the decision that sealed his fate. Making for the aft Oerlikon position, he strapped himself in behind the 20-millimetre gun and began blazing at the attacking aircraft. Although badly wounded in the chest and back, he kept firing – even as the ship disappeared beneath the waves. It is thought that he damaged one, perhaps two of the Japanese planes, and he deterred them from fully pressing home their attacks. After nearly twenty minutes, they broke off and flew away. Sheean went down with the ship.

Only 49 of the 149 men aboard Armidale survived the sinking and were rescued in the days that followed.
Teddy Sheean’s final moments feature in the accounts of the survivors. Summing up the sentiments of many, Ordinary Seaman Russel Caro said:
Teddy died, but none of us who survived, I am sure, will ever forget his gallant deed.

Teddy Sheean is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Britain. His name is also listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second World War. He was 18 years old.

In February 2001, the navy commissioned a Collins Class submarine named HMAS Sheean. It was the first Royal Australian Navy ship to be named in honour of a naval rating.

For his actions that day, Teddy Sheean was Mentioned in Despatches, but many felt his heroic sacrifice warranted higher recognition. After years of lobbying and re-examination of the events, his nomination for the Victoria Cross for Australia was approved by Queen Elizabeth II on 12 August 2020.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Ordinary Seaman Edward “Teddy” Sheean VC, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Craig Tibbitts
Historian, Military History Section