The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (23768) Supply Assistant Horace Russell Keats, HMAS Canberra, 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 Berelle, the story for this day was on (23768) Supply Assistant Horace Russell Keats, HMAS Canberra, Second World War.

23768 Supply Assistant Horace Russell Keats, HMAS Canberra
KIA 9 August 1942
Photograph: P11328.001

Story delivered 9 August 2014

Today we remember Supply Assistant Horace Russell Keats, who was killed in action during the battle of Savo Island in August 1942.

Born in the Sydney suburb of Stanmore on 22 August 1921, Russell Keats was the eldest son of the prominent musicians Horace and Janet Keats. Like his parents he was a musician, playing the flute, piano, and organ. He also had a strong interest in the military and despite some hesitance from his parents he joined the Militia in 1938. A year later, following the outbreak of the Second World War, he enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy.

After less than a year at the navy’s training establishment, HMAS Cerberus in Victoria, Keats was briefly posted to HMAS Penguin before joining HMAS Canberra in December 1940.

Commissioned into the RAN in 1928, Canberra was a County-class heavy cruiser armed with eight 8-inch guns and four 4-inch guns. From 1940 the cruiser served in the Indian Ocean on escort duties and patrolling for German surface raiders. In March 1941 Canberra and a light cruiser intercepted the German supply ship Coburg.

A regular correspondent, Keats never revealed any operational matters about Canberra in his letters home, although he did hint that they were hunting enemy raiders. Keats’s shipmates well remember his musical contribution to life at sea; he and a fellow rating hosted a weekly music program that played records over the cruiser’s internal broadcast system. Shipmates also called upon Keats’s knowledge of French when on shore leave.

Following Japan’s entry into the war in January 1942, Canberra began convoy escort duties to New Guinea, Malaya, and Java. The cruiser was in Sydney Harbour on the night of the Japanese midget submarine attack on 31 May. A few days later Canberra began patrolling in the Coral Sea as part of an American naval task force and was part of the naval force supporting the American amphibious landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi. A naval battle against a powerful Japanese force ensued. Canberra was struck by two torpedoes and over 20 salvos of shell-fire. Mortally crippled, the cruiser sank at about 8 am on 9 August. Of the 819 men on board, 193 were reported killed, wounded, or missing.

Keats was among the dead. He was just 20 years old. In less than a fortnight he would have turned 21.

Keats is commemorated on the Plymouth Naval Memorial in Britain. His name is also listed here, on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with some 40,000 other Australians who died during the Second World War. He is also remembered with every performance of the song “Over the Quiet Waters”, which was composed by his father in memory of his son. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

We now remember Supply Assistant Horace Russell Keats and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.