The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX2750) Gunner Clarrie Everson, 2/15th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, 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 (NX2750) Gunner Clarrie Everson, 2/15th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, Second World War.

NX2750 Gunner Clarrie Everson, 2/15th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery
Presumed killed 29 January 1942

Story delivered 24 June 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Gunner Clarrie Everson.

Clarrie Everson was born on 29 May 1910 in Coonabarabran, New South Wales, to James and Hannah Everson.

Clarrie worked as a farm labourer at Bunglegumbie, Dubbo. He married Edna May Everson, and the couple had a daughter, Doreen May Everson.

He enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 7 April 1941. A family anecdote has it that upon enlistment, when asked if he played a musical instrument, he said “gramophone”.

Following enlistment, he was posted to the 2/15th Field Regiment, Royal Australian Artillery, which was part of the Australian 8th Division.

On 29 July 1941 the regiment left Sydney on board the troopship Katoomba, bound for Singapore. The Katoomba was part of a convey taking the 27th Brigade to Malaya.

Following Japan’s entry into the war in early December 1941, the Malayan peninsula was invaded. From mid-January 1942, the units of the 8th Division were involved in fierce fighting against Japanese forces.

On 29 January, Everson was listed as missing, presumed killed.

He was first reported to the family as missing; then they were told that he was a prisoner of war; finally they received the news that he was missing, presumed killed.

A friend of Clarrie’s told the family that Clarrie had been wounded, and that he had been hidden under some tin sheeting by mates who later saw him killed by the Japanese.

His body was not recovered. Today his name is listed on the Singapore Memorial at the Kranji War Cemetery.

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 Gunner Clarrie Everson, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section