Full length portrait of VX30849 Private (Pte) George Leslie McDonald, 2/22 Battalion, part of the ...

Full length portrait of VX30849 Private (Pte) George Leslie McDonald, 2/22 Battalion, part of the Lark Force sent to garrison Rabaul, New Britain. Pte McDonald of Ararat, Vic enlisted on 7 June 1940 and died of illness whilst a Prisoner of War in Rabaul on 7 March 1942, aged 23 years. The Lark Force was a composite body of 1350 troops, of which the 2/22 Battalion numbered approximately 950. They served as a garrison force in Rabaul until 23 January 1942 when a force of over 20,000 Japanese troops with air and naval support stormed ashore in the early hours of the morning. The vastly superior force overran the underpowered defenders, who ran out of ammunition and any means of communication. The official history states that the order 'Every Man for Himself' was given as all organised resistance collapsed. Many troops were killed, and others died in the jungle trying to escape. Approximately 135 were executed after surrendering at Tol Plantation, and many more small groups were captured along the coast and taken back to Rabaul as POWs.