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
Buchanan
FORENAME
Spencer Donald
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Corporal
NUMBER
NX43043
DATE OF DEATH
4th February 1943
AGE
28
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea K.A.6
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 08.09.1914, Kyogle, New South Wales
son of William...
-
SURNAME
Brown
FORENAME
Reginald Scott
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Corporal
NUMBER
NX39478
DATE OF DEATH
25th March 1943
AGE
19
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea G.D.11
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 26.12.1921, Annandale, New South Wales, Australia
son of...
-
SURNAME
Bradshaw
FORENAME
James William Harry (Gus)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
NX38034
DATE OF DEATH
18th August 1943
AGE
23
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea M.D.3
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 21.07.1920, Salford, Lancashire, England
son...
-
SURNAME
Bentley
FORENAME
Cameron (Cam)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
QX25709
DATE OF DEATH
17th August 1943
AGE
21
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea R.C.8
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 23.09.1921, Longreach, Queensland, Australia
son of Thomas...
-
SURNAME
Bein
FORENAME
Edward William (Eddie)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
QX18459
DATE OF DEATH
10th February 1943
AGE
26
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea J.A.4
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 12.03.1916, Chinchilla, Queensland, Australia
son...
-
SURNAME
Barry
FORENAME
Edward John (Jack)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Lieutenant
NUMBER
WX12436
DATE OF DEATH
17th August 1943
AGE
25
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea N.C.4
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 02.09.1915, Perth, Western Australia
son of William...
-
SURNAME
Avery
FORENAME
James Cecil Williamson (Jim)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
VX56016
DATE OF DEATH
31st January 1943
AGE
31
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea G.B.14
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 13.10.1911, Timor, Victoria
son of James...
-
SURNAME
Arbuckle
FORENAME
Robert (Bob)
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Corporal
NUMBER
QX20132
DATE OF DEATH
14th May 1943
AGE
27
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea S.B.3
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 30.11.1915, Pelaw Main, New South Wales
son of Robert and...
-
SURNAME
Ansell
FORENAME
Jack
UNIT
2/3 Independent Company
RANK
Private
NUMBER
VX57231
DATE OF DEATH
20th August 1943
AGE
22
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea R.C.6
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 17.11.1920, Nhill,Victoria, Australia
son of Charles (????-1974) and...
-
SURNAME
Wordie
FORENAME
Robert Drummond
UNIT
2/2 Commando Squadron
RANK
Trooper
NUMBER
VX69602
DATE OF DEATH
30th October 1943
AGE
23
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea C.D.1
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of John and Rubina M. Wordie
husband of Evelyn May...
-
SURNAME
Stewart
FORENAME
Alexander
UNIT
2/2 Commando Squadron
RANK
Corporal
NUMBER
WX9531
DATE OF DEATH
19th March 1944
AGE
24
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea M.A.1
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Archibald and Mary Stewart,Bunbury,Western Australia
died New Guinea
-
SURNAME
Ramshaw
FORENAME
Donald McKillop
UNIT
2/2 Commando Squadron
RANK
Trooper
NUMBER
WX29710
DATE OF DEATH
10th January 1944
AGE
20
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea M.B.13
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Luke and Catherine Ramshaw,Geraldton,Western Australia...
-
SURNAME
Nagle
FORENAME
Valentine Flood
UNIT
2/2 Commando Squadron
RANK
Lieutenant
NUMBER
VX1042
DATE OF DEATH
4th October 1943
AGE
28
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea F.C.5
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Valentine Flood and Margaret Eileen Nagle,Albury,New...
-
SURNAME
Maley
FORENAME
John Lawrence
UNIT
2/2 Independent Company
RANK
Corporal
NUMBER
WX11488
DATE OF DEATH
12th August 1943
AGE
33
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea F.A.11
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Albert E. and Mary L. Maley,Mullewa,Western Australia...
-
SURNAME
Moloney
FORENAME
Laurence Harry
UNIT
2/2 Commando Squadron
RANK
Lance Corporal
NUMBER
VX135930
DATE OF DEATH
10th January 1944
AGE
22
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea M.C.6
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Matthew George and Alameda Adelaide...
-
SURNAME
Kemp
FORENAME
Lloyd Beilby
UNIT
2/2 Commando Squadron
RANK
Trooper
NUMBER
NX49663
DATE OF DEATH
12th November 1943
AGE
22
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea F.B.10
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
born 26.10.1921 Murwillumbah,New South Wales
son of Lloyd Beilby...
-
SURNAME
Hopper
FORENAME
Phillip
UNIT
2/2 Commando Squadron
RANK
Lieutenant
NUMBER
VX53569
DATE OF DEATH
27th January 1944
AGE
27
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea M.A.7
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Henry and Annie Harriett Hopper,Moonee Ponds,Victoria
died New...
-
SURNAME
Holly
FORENAME
William Ivor
UNIT
2/2 Independent Company
RANK
Lance Corporal
NUMBER
WX12024
DATE OF DEATH
27th August 1943
AGE
23
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea F.B.1
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of Abiah and Mary Ann Holly,Cottesloe,Western Australia...
-
SURNAME
Doyle
FORENAME
Cyril Ernest
UNIT
2/2 Commando Squadron
RANK
Lance Corporal
NUMBER
WX13042
DATE OF DEATH
29th September 1943
AGE
22
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea E.C.14
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of John Marriott and Edith Marion Budd-Doyle
husband...
-
SURNAME
Cheverton
FORENAME
William
UNIT
2/2 Independent Company
RANK
Corporal
NUMBER
VX123030
DATE OF DEATH
27th August 1943
AGE
19
GRAVESITE
Lae War Cemetery,Papua New Guinea F.B.2
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
son of William and Margaret Cheverton,Middle Park,Victoria
died...