Commemoration service for Operation RIMAU

Representatives from the Australian Commando Association both nationally and here in Queensland; veterans; ladies and gentlemen.

Good morning, and thank you for inviting me to participate once more in this solemn and important commemoration. 

We are here to honour the memory of 23 Australian and British men assigned to Operation RIMAU – let’s use the modern term and call them commandos – who left Fremantle secretly in September 1944 for a planned attack on Japanese shipping in Singapore. 

There was no news of their fate for months, until intercepted Japanese radio messages revealed that they had been killed or captured.

As more detail of their fate slowly emerged after the war, it became clear that much that could go wrong in Operation RIMAU did go wrong.

Most critically, they were challenged as they approached Singapore and the ensuing firefight alerted the Japanese to their presence. The mission had to be abandoned. All 23 men then attempted to return to Australia, more than 3000 kilometres away, though enemy-held islands and waters.

None of them made it, despite valiant, almost superhuman efforts. Thirteen were killed by the pursuing Japanese or died of wounds or illness. The remaining ten were tried and brutally executed just two months before the end of the war in the Pacific.  

We will probably never know the full story. But we know enough, more than enough, to be humbled and filled with admiration by the extraordinary courage and tenacity of these 23 men.

No matter how appalling the odds, they never gave up. In the face of constant mortal danger from the enemy, they used every ounce of courage, strength, ingenuity and daring to try to make the perilous voyage home.

It is their extraordinary spirit and courage, and the example they set, that drives the ferocious loyalty of the Australian Commando Association, supported by the Australian SAS and Royal Marines Associations in Queensland, to the memory of these 23 men.  And, of course, the equally fierce loyalty of their descendants, some of whom honour us with their presence today.

We remember the fate of ‘the 23’ with heavy hearts, and with the beautiful, dignified rituals with which Australians so movingly honour their war dead. We remember the grief of their families.

But we also remember with great pride their unwavering courage and sacrifice, their unshakeable loyalty to one another, and to their countries.

Lest We Forget.

Thank you.