The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (8814) Leading Aircraftman Robert Edmondson Joel, No. 1 Squadron RAAF, 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 Craig Blanch, the story for this day was on (8814) Leading Aircraftman Robert Edmondson Joel, No. 1 Squadron RAAF, Second World War.

8814 Leading Aircraftman Robert Edmondson Joel, No. 1 Squadron RAAF
KIA 24 June 1944
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 10 June 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Leading Aircraftman Robert Edmondson Joel.

Robert Joel was born on 6 April 1917 in Geraldton, Western Australia. He was the son of George and Emmallina Joel. When he finished his schooling he became a watchmaker and was employed by C.R. Collett Watchmaker & Jeweller of Bunbury for seven years. There he repaired clocks and jewellery as well as speedometers and other specialist instruments.

Following the outbreak of war in 1939, Joel read in the newspaper that the armed forces were looking for men with specialist trades. He registered and on the 29th of November 1939 undertook and passed an examination for entrance into the Royal Australian Air Force as an instrument maker. It took some time for Joel to hear anything, but just as he was about to go into camp with his militia battalion, the 44th, he was called up and entered the RAAF instead.

Robert Joel left Australia for overseas service with No. 1 Squadron of the RAAF in July 1940. He served at a number of RAAF bases in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore as an instrument maker and repairer, and attained the rank of leading aircraftman in August 1941.

Joel went missing some time in 1942, believed to have been made a prisoner of war while on Java. Very little is known of his time as a prisoner, but he is likely to have been held in a camp near one of the major Japanese airfields there. In 1944 he was put on board the Tamahoku Maru, a transport ship in a convoy bound for Japan. He was one of 772 Dutch, Australian, English and American prisoners of war on board. There were 16 other men of the RAAF crowded on board with him, most from No. 1 Squadron.

On 24 June 1944 the convoy came within sight of Japan, but around midnight three US submarines attacked the convoy, sinking a freighter and a tanker – and the Tamahoku Maru. Just 20 miles from Nagasaki, the ship sank within two minutes. More than 500 prisoners perished either in the original blast, or drowned after the ship sank. Only three men of No. 1 Squadron survived. Leading Aircraftman Robert Joel was later determined to have been killed when the transport sank. He was 26 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with around 40,000 others from the Second World War. There is no photograph in the Memorial’s collection to display beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Leading Aircraftman Robert Edmondson Joel, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.