The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (122680) Leading Aircraftman Colin Shortland Molony, 15 Wireless Telegraphy Station Nadzab, 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 Sharon Bown, the story for this day was on (122680) Leading Aircraftman Colin Shortland Molony, 15 Wireless Telegraphy Station Nadzab, RAAF, Second World War.

122680 Leading Aircraftman Colin Shortland Molony, 15 Wireless Telegraphy Station Nadzab, RAAF
Accidental (ground accident) 19 September 1944

Today we remember and pay tribute to Leading Aircraftman Colin Shortland Molony.

Colin Molony was born on 10 December 1924, the son of Gordon and Matilda Molony. Colin’s father had a bakery on Main Street in Terowie, a small town in South Australia about 200 kilometres north of Adelaide. The family were an established part of the local community, and were well known in the area.

Colin attended Terowrie Public School until he turned 15, at which point he found work as a post office employee. In December 1942, he applied to become a telegraphist in the Royal Australian Air Force. He was called up the following year, enlisting on 16 March at the age of 18.

Taken on as a trainee telegraphist, he attended signals school at Point Cook in April, and then a telegraphist course in October 1943. In December he was posted to 12 Signals Unit, which was located at Townsville. In February 1944 he was posted to Port Moresby on the south coast of New Guinea, and a few months later to the Allied air base at Milne Bay.

The New Guinea campaign, which had begun with Japan’s invasion of the Australian-administered territories of the New Guinea Mandate in January 1942, had by then entered its second phase. Australian and US forces took on the gruelling task of attempting to clear the region of Japanese troops, while enduring inhospitable conditions and rampant disease.

In June 1944 Molony was posted to 15 Wireless Telegraphy Station at Nadzab, a village located on the Erap River, about 40 kilometres north-west of Lae. Nadzab by then had become the major Allied air base in New Guinea, with four all-weather airfields.

On 19 September Colin Molony drowned while swimming in the sea at Salamaua, a small town on the north-eastern coast near Lae.

He was 19 years old.

Today his remains lie buried at Lae War Cemetery under the inscription chosen by his grieving family: “ever remembered”.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 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 Leading Aircraftman Colin Shortland Molony, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard
Editor, Military History Section