The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (TX14609) Private Douglas Leonard Chilcott, 2/3rd Battalion, Second Australian Imperial Force, First 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 , the story for this day was on (TX14609) Private Douglas Leonard Chilcott, 2/3rd Battalion, Second Australian Imperial Force, First World War.



Due to a technical fault there is no recording of this Last Post Ceremony

TX14609 Private Douglas Leonard Chilcott, 2/3rd Battalion, Second Australian Imperial Force
Drowned 27 January 1945

Story delivered 21 April 2017

Today we pay tribute to Private Douglas Chilcott.

Douglas Leonard Chilcott was born on 10 July 1922 in Ulverstone, Tasmania, to Leonard and Ada Chilcott.

Growing up, the young Douglas Chilcott attended North Motton State School, then Devenport High School. Prior to enlistment, he was employed as a junior teacher for the Tasmanian education department where “his cheery disposition won him the esteem of his comrades”.

Chilcott enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 18 May 1943 and was posted to the 2/3rd Battalion, of the 16th Brigade of the 6th Division.

At this time the battalion was in the midst of a long period of training in northern Queensland. Chilcott was joining a battalion that had served with distinction at Bardia and Tobruk in Libya, and in Greece and Syria, in 1941, as well as at Kokoda and the beachhead battles in Papua in 1942 and earlier 1943.

In October 1944 the 6th Division was sent to the north coast of New Guinea to destroy the Japanese forces remaining in the Aitape-Wewak area. The 2/3rd Battalion arrived in December.

In late January several days of torrential rain caused severe flooding to Danmap River. Rising and raging floodwaters washed away bridges, boulders and trees. On the night of the 26th of January the machine-gun platoon of which Private Chilcott was a member, found itself on a newly formed island in the floodwaters. That night the river rose six meters above its banks. The men of the machine-gun platoon clambered to what high ground there was and then into the treetops.

The platoon commander, Lieutenant G.H. Fearnside, a veteran of Tobruk and El Alamein, found this night the most terrifying experience of his life. He recounted:

Some were killed outright in that mad onslaught of frenzied water and green timber; others were swirled beneath the press of timber and drowned; others were knocked unconscious and their bodies snatched and sent racing downstream, turning over and over, like otters.

The following day survivors who had been washed away, or had floated away on logs, and made it to the safety of the banks gathered in the battalion area. Seven men of the machine gun company failed to report – having drowned in the floodwaters.

One of the seven was Private Chilcott.

He was 22 years old.

Chilcott’s name is listed upon the Lae Memorial at the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Lae, Papua New Guinea.

His name is also 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 Douglas Leonard Chilcott, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section