The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (WX3305) Captain James Leslie Allen, 2/28th 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 Gerard pratt, the story for this day was on (WX3305) Captain James Leslie Allen, 2/28th Battalion, Second Australian Imperial Force, Second World War.

WX3305 Captain James Leslie Allen, 2/28th Battalion, Second Australian Imperial Force
KIA 27 July 1942

Today we remember and pay tribute to Captain James Leslie Allen.

James Allen was born on 6 May 1913 in Warwick, Queensland, the son of Leslie and Ruby Allen. James’s father was a butcher and farmer. In 1930 the family ¬– including James, his brothers Ronald, Jack, and Gerald, and sisters Lorna and Joyce – moved to live on a farm in Dalby. James’s mother died when he was 18; his father passed away two years later.

Allen farmed at Chincilla, and was a member of the Dalby troop of the Light Horse Regiment. He married Queenie Walby, and a son was born to the couple in 1939. Before the outbreak of war, Allen was selected for training at the Royal Military College at Duntroon. At the end of the year he graduated and was posted to Western Australia as a staff officer. He officially enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 27 May 1940 at Swan Barracks in Perth.
Initially seconded to the 2/16th Battalion as a lieutenant, in September Allen was transferred to the 2/28th Battalion as a temporary captain. He embarked with his unit aboard HMT Aquitania on 3 January 1941, arriving in Palestine a month later for training.

In March the 9th Division, of which the 2/28th was a part, was brought from Palestine to Libya to garrison the area east of Tobruk. On the night of 31 August, Allen commanded a party conducting a raid on enemy posts at Tobruk. He personally destroyed two guns and led his men in a charge on the enemy under heavy fire. Allen received gunshot wounds to the rear, and was hospitalised for a month. For his actions he received the Military Cross for gallantry.

That November Allen was attached to the 24th Brigade Headquarters, where he served as a batman. In April 1942 he attended a junior staff school course, and after qualifying returned to his unit in May.

By July 1942 the war in North Africa had become critical for the British. The Germans and Italians had reached El Alamein about 110 kilometres from Alexandria, and the 9th Division was rushed to the front.

The 2/28th reached the Alamein front on 10 July and the division attacked a week later. Towards the end of the month the 2/28th Battalion attacked the enemy on Ruin Ridge, and afterwards Captain Allen was declared missing in action. He was later discovered to have been killed in action on 27 July. He was 28 years old.

The 2/28th suffered heavily at Ruin Ridge. Sixty-five officers and men from the battalion and support units were killed or wounded; nearly 500 were captured and became prisoners of war. Of those who participated in the attack, only 92 remained.

Allen’s remains were recovered and buried at the El Alamein War Cemetery in Egypt, under the inscription: “He served in war, in order that peace might be preserved.”
In 1944 Queenie Allen was presented with her husband’s Military Cross by the Governor of Queensland. She pinned the medal on her five-year-old son.

Captain James Allen’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 others from 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 Captain James Leslie Allen and all those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Christina Zissis
Editor, Military History Section