The Australian War Memorial in Canberra will commemorate the service and sacrifice of West Wyalong resident Private Douglas Andrew Love Craig at the Last Post Ceremony on Saturday 15 February, marking the 83rd anniversary of the Fall of Singapore.
"Douglas Craig was born on 20 July 1921 at Sea Lake, Victoria, the second son of William and Florence Craig who migrated from Australia to England in 1919," Australian War Memorial military history curator, Emily Hyles, said.
"When Douglas was six, the family moved to a farm near West Wyalong, NSW. The two boys attended Mildil School, before completing high school as boarders at St Patrick's College, Goulburn. Both brothers were working on local farms at the outbreak of the Second World War."
Elder brother Vernon was amongst the first volunteers from West Wyalong to enlist, doing so in November 1939.
Douglas enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force at Wagga Wagga on 21 June 1940, bumping his age up by two years in order to avoid having to provide evidence of parental consent.
On 2 February 1941, he embarked for active service with the 2/19th Infantry Battalion to Singapore.
With the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942, Douglas was one of 15,000 Australian soldiers who immediately became prisoners of war.
Over the next two-and-a-half harrowing years, Douglas survived imprisonment at Changi prisoner of war camp. From there came the unbearable conditions working on the Burma-Thailand railway, a voyage on an overcrowded hell ship from Singapore to Japan, and mining coal at Hiroshima. Suffering acute pneumonia, he was badly beaten by several camp guards and died on 7 November 1944.
Private Douglas Andrew Love Craig was 23 years old.
War crimes trials saw three Japanese guards sentenced to 15 years jail for beating Douglas Craig; a fourth was given 10 years.
The Last Post ceremony is held at 4.30 pm every day (except Christmas Day) in the Commemorative Area of the Australian War Memorial.
Each ceremony shares the story behind one of 103,000 names on the Roll of Honour. To date, the Memorial has delivered more than 3,800 ceremonies, each featuring an individual story of service from colonial to recent conflicts. It would take more than 280 years to read the story behind each of the 103,000 names listed on the Roll of Honour.
"The Last Post Ceremony is our commitment to remembering and honouring the legacy of Australian service," Memorial Director Matt Anderson said.
"Through our daily Last Post Ceremony, we not only acknowledge where and how these men and women died. We also tell the stories of who they were when they were alive, and of the families who loved and, in so many cases, still mourn for them.
"The Last Post is now associated with remembrance but originally it was a bugle call to sound the end of the day's activities in the military. It is a fitting way to end each day at the Memorial."
The Last Post Ceremony honouring the service of Private Douglas Andrew Love Craig will be live streamed to the Australian War Memorial's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/c/awmlastpost.
The stories told at the Last Post Ceremony are researched and written by the Memorial's military historians, who begin the process by looking at nominal rolls, attestation papers and enlistment records before building profiles that include personal milestones and military experiences.
