The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (VX30849) Private Leslie George McDonald, 2/22nd Battalion, AIF, 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 (VX30849) Private Leslie George McDonald, 2/22nd Battalion, AIF, Second World War.

VX30849 Private Leslie George McDonald, 2/22nd Battalion, AIF
DOD 7 March 1942
Photograph: P04044.002

Today marks the 75th anniversary of the Japanese invasion of New Britain and the fall of Rabaul, which took place on 23 January 1942.

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Leslie George McDonald, who died as a prisoner of war following the fall of Rabaul.

The son of a gold miner, Leslie McDonald was born on 31 August 1918 in Ararat, in south-west Victoria, to Hugh and Rose McDonald. By the time the Second World War began the family was living in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick, where Leslie worked as a labourer. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 7 June 1940, giving his name as “George Leslie” rather than “Leslie George” McDonald.

Shortly after his enlistment, McDonald was posted to the newly raised 2/22nd Battalion of the Australian 8th Division, joining the battalion’s D Company. The battalion carried out much of its training in Trawool in central Victoria, and Bonegilla on the Victoria–New South Wales border. In April 1941 McDonald and the rest of his battalion embarked from Sydney for Rabaul, New Britain.

Rabaul was the administrative centre for Australia’s Mandated Territories in New Guinea. The 2/22nd Battalion formed part of “Lark Force”, which was sent to protect the airfields and seaplane anchorage on New Britain, and to provide early warning of Japanese movement through the islands.

Much of McDonald’s time on New Britain was spent training and preparing the island’s defences. There were few amenities for entertainment or relaxation, and McDonald soon ran afoul of military regulations. In addition to two earlier convictions of going absent without leave in Australia, he was charged with a variety of offenses such as failing to obey camp standing orders, and stealing a bottle of beer. In July he was convicted of failing to obey a lawful command and was sentenced to 112 days’ detention. He was sent by sea to Queensland to serve his sentence in a Brisbane detention barracks before returning to Rabaul in mid-November, where he continued his pattern of going AWL, ignoring commands, and being confined to barracks.

The Japanese, meanwhile, had begun to advance across south-east Asia and the Pacific. In early January 1942 the Japanese began aerial attacks on New Britain, quickly overwhelming the Australian airmen who engaged them.

The invasion of Rabaul began on 23 January with an amphibious landing. Some 5,000 Japanese troops overpowered the 1,400 soldiers of Lark Force. The force’s commander infamously ordered the Australian withdrawal along the lines of “every man for himself”.

Unprepared for a retreat, the force disintegrated into small groups. Some 400 members of Lark Force, included 300 men from the 2/22nd Battalion, managed to escape to Australia. At Tol Plantation and Waitavalo, however, the Japanese massacred around 160 Australians. More than 800 Australians became prisoner of war.

McDonald was among the prisoners at Rabaul, and on 7 March he died in captivity from malaria. He was 23 years old.

A grim fate awaited the remaining prisoners from the 2/22nd Battalion and Lark Force. They were among the more than 1,000 Australian prisoners of war and civilian internees who died when the Montevideo Maru – a Japanese merchant ship transporting prisoners from Rabaul to Hainan Island – was sunk by an American submarine on 1 July.

Private McDonald’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 Australians who died while serving in 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 Private Leslie George McDonald who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Karl James
Historian, Military History Section