LAE WAR CEMETERY (PAPUA NEW GUINEA)
In the early months of 1942, Japan enjoyed a crushing superiority in the air, and it was Lae and its neighbouring airfields that were the objects of the first Japanese attack on New Guinea. Lae and Salamaua were bombed on 21 January 1942 by 100 planes, but the land forces did not enter the territory until 7 March, when 3,000 Japanese landed at Lae. There were landings too at Salamaua, followed on 21 July by further landings at Buna and Gona on the east coast in preparation for a drive through the Owen Stanley Mountains across the Papuan peninsula to Port Moresby. The vital stage of the New Guinea campaign dates from that time. Lae became one of the bases from which the southward drive was launched and maintained until it was stopped at Ioribaiwa Ridge, a point within 60 kilometres of Port Moresby.
LAE WAR CEMETERY was commenced in 1944 by the Australian Army Graves Service and handed over to the Commission in 1947. It contains the graves of men who lost their lives during the New Guinea campaign whose graves were brought here from the temporary military cemeteries in areas where the fighting took place. The Indian casualties were soldiers of the army of undivided India who had been taken prisoner during the fighting in Malaya and Hong Kong. The great majority of the unidentified were recovered between But airfield and Wewak, where they had died while employed in working parties. Of the two men belonging to the army of the United Kingdom, one was attached to 2/9th Australian Infantry Battalion and the other was a member of the Hong Kong-Singapore Royal Artillery. The naval casualties were killed, or died of injuries received, on H.M. Ships King George V, Glenearn and Empire Arquebus, and the four men of the Merchant Navy were killed when the S.S. Gorgon was bombed and damaged in Milne Bay in April 1943.
The cemetery contains 2,818 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 444 of them unidentified. It was unveiled by the Governor-General of Australia, Field Marshal Slim, on 21 October 1953.
Prior to the First World War, north-eastern New Guinea and certain adjacent islands were German possessions, and were occupied by Australian Forces on 12 September 1914. Several cemeteries in New Guinea contain the graves of men who died during that war. There is one such grave in Lae War Cemetery, brought in from a burial ground where permanent maintenance could not be assured.
The LAE MEMORIAL, which stands in the cemetery, commemorates more than 300 officers and men of the Australian Army, the Australian Merchant Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force who lost their lives in these operations and have no known grave. Casualties of the Royal Australian Navy who lost their lives in the south-western Pacific region, and have no known grave but the sea, are commemorated on Plymouth Naval Memorial in England along with many of their comrades of the Royal Navy and of other Commonwealth Naval Forces.
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SURNAME
McDiarmid
FORENAME
Oswald Charles
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
TX553
DATE OF DEATH
5th May 1943
AGE
24
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea P.D.3
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born New Norfolk,Tasmania
son of Duncan Finley and Ruby Gelina...
-
SURNAME
Mayger
FORENAME
Arthur Edwin Theodore
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Lieutenant
NUMBER
WX9629
DATE OF DEATH
15th February 1943
AGE
31
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea K.A.2
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Boulder City,Western Australia
son of Arthur...
-
SURNAME
Manskie
FORENAME
Alfred Carl
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
QX40510
DATE OF DEATH
2nd February 1943
AGE
23
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea H.C.9
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Maryborough,Queensland
son of Friedrick and Frieda Manskie...
-
SURNAME
Maher
FORENAME
Peter Gilbert
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
SX14917
DATE OF DEATH
18th August 1943
AGE
21
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea M.D.2
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Clare,South Australia
son of Martin Vincent and Ruby Fanny...
-
SURNAME
LaBatt
FORENAME
Alfred George Edward
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX71294
DATE OF DEATH
24th August 1943
AGE
24
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea N.B.16
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Nyngan,New South Wales
son of George Thomas and Mary...
-
SURNAME
Jeffery
FORENAME
Stanley Gordon (Bull)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Lieutenant
NUMBER
WX2100
DATE OF DEATH
20th August 1943
AGE
31
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea Q.A.7
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Perth,Western Australia
son of Stanley George and...
-
SURNAME
James
FORENAME
Edward Joseph
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
QX27625
DATE OF DEATH
3rd February 1943
AGE
21
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea H.C.8
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Brisbane,Queensland
son of George Edward and Daisy Maud...
-
SURNAME
James
FORENAME
Basil William Henry
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
QX40508
DATE OF DEATH
21st July 1943
AGE
24
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea R.D.15
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Southport,Queensland
son of Joseph Egley and Bridget...
-
SURNAME
Hughes
FORENAME
Esmond Michael (Des)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
VX59767
DATE OF DEATH
25th August 1943
AGE
20
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea P.D.16
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Carlton,Victoria
son of Michael and Gertrude Ellen...
-
SURNAME
Hooks
FORENAME
Percival Arthur (Percy)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Corporal
NUMBER
WX13821
DATE OF DEATH
29th July 1943
AGE
22
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea N.D.8
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Boulder City,Western Australia
son of Percival Henry...
-
SURNAME
Hayward
FORENAME
Victor Stanley (Vic and Snow)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Lance Corporal
NUMBER
QX18450
DATE OF DEATH
19th June 1943
AGE
34
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea P.A.8
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Cootamundra,New South Wales
son of...
-
SURNAME
Harrison
FORENAME
Frank Bernard
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Lieutenant
NUMBER
VX36927
DATE OF DEATH
15th July 1943
AGE
26
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea P.A.2
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Sydney,New South Wales
son of Sidney and Norah Louise...
-
SURNAME
Gerke
FORENAME
Arthur
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
WX13073
DATE OF DEATH
3rd February 1943
AGE
23
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea H.C.13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Claremont,Western Australia
son of Albert Herman and Minetta Ann...
-
SURNAME
Forge
FORENAME
Albert David
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
VX105843
DATE OF DEATH
21st July 1943
AGE
20
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea P.A.6
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 19.7.1923 Corowa, New South Wales
son of Albert Ernest and...
-
SURNAME
Evans
FORENAME
Allan Charles
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Lance Corporal
NUMBER
WX5338
DATE OF DEATH
4th February 1943
AGE
27
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea H.C.7
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Wilga,Western Australia
son of John and Elizabeth...
-
SURNAME
Erskine
FORENAME
Denis Dixon (Jock)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Lieutenant
NUMBER
VX52975
DATE OF DEATH
26th July 1943
AGE
28
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea P.C.9
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Braemar,Lenzie,Dunbartonshire,Scotland
son of Joseph...
-
SURNAME
Egan
FORENAME
Hubert Leo (Hugh and Speed)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Lieutenant
NUMBER
VX59445
DATE OF DEATH
21st July 1943
AGE
24
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea S.A.2
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born North Melbourne,Victoria
son of Hubert and...
-
SURNAME
Cobb
FORENAME
Frederic Pierce (Snow)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Lieutenant
NUMBER
QX42392
DATE OF DEATH
2nd February 1943
AGE
21
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea K.A.7
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Winton,Queensland
son of Frederic and Hannah...
-
SURNAME
Cilento
FORENAME
Ray Charles (Tony)
UNIT
2/3 Commando Squadron
RANK
Trooper
NUMBER
SX28754
DATE OF DEATH
6th July 1945
AGE
21
GRAVESITE
Labuan War Cemetery,Malaysia 5.C.12
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born Port Adelaide,South Australia
son of Salvator and Harriet Mary...
-
SURNAME
Buckingham
FORENAME
Donald Jack (Buck)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Corporal
NUMBER
WX14133
DATE OF DEATH
29th July 1943
AGE
35
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea Q.D.3
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 28.05.1908 Perth, Western Australia
son of John and...