Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (VX85284) Captain Thomas Eltham, Z Special Unit, Second World War.

Places:
Asia: Borneo
Asia: Malaysia
Asia: Malaysia, Labuan, Labuan War Cemetery
Asia: Netherlands East Indies
Oceania: German New Guinea, New Guinea
Oceania: New Guinea, Bena Bena
Oceania: New Guinea, Papua New Guinea, Morobe Province, Lae
Oceans: Pacific Ocean, South West Pacific

Accession No: AWM2017.1.194
Collection type: Film
Object type: Last Post film
Physical description: 16:9
Maker: Australian War Memorial
Place made: Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell
Date made: 13 July 2017
Access: Open
Conflict: Second World War, 1939-1945
Copyright: Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License
This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Copying Provisions: Copy provided for personal non-commercial use


Description
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 Josie Dunham, the story for this day was on (VX85284) Captain Thomas Eltham, Z Special Unit, Second World War.

Speech transcript
VX85284 Captain Thomas Eltham, Z Special Unit
KIA 21 May 1945

Story delivered 13 July 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Captain Thomas Ivanhoe Eltham.

Known to friends and family as “Ivan”, Thomas Eltham was born in 1909, the eldest of three children of Edmund and May Eltham of the Melbourne suburb of Caulfield in Victoria. A highly skilled and experienced solider, Eltham had an extensive military career that began in 1927 when he enlisted in the Militia as a gunner with the 10th Field Brigade, Royal Australian Artillery, at Albert Park. Over the next six years, he rose through the ranks to lieutenant before resigning to find employment in civilian life. In 1935 he announced his engagement to Ruth Miethke, and the couple married the following year. In time they had two sons, Peter in 1943 and Timothy in 1945.

Eltham enlisted in the Permanent Forces in March 1939. With his skills and experience in the Civilian Forces, he was attached to the Australian Instructional Corps, and on the outbreak of war was posted to the Officer Training Wing at the Royal Military College at Duntroon. After coastal defence duties at Port Kembla, Eltham spent time as an instructor at the Infantry Officers Training School at Bonegilla in Victoria before a posting to the Guerrilla Warfare School at Wilson’s Promontory. There, after the outbreak of the Pacific War, he was involved in training company-sized units to act independently of higher command behind enemy lines, carrying out tasks that included raiding, sabotage, and subversion. In August 1942 Eltham volunteered and was accepted for service in the Second Australian Imperial Force. Made lieutenant, he was posted to the newly-raised 2/7th Independent Company which carried out operations against the Japanese in the south-west Pacific.

The 2/7th Independent Company deployed to New Guinea in late 1942 and was used to reinforce elements of the 6th Division and Kanga Force at Wau during the Salamaua-Lae campaign. Engaged in aggressive
jungle patrolling and laying ambushes against the Japanese throughout January and April 1943, the unit took part in the defence of Wau before advancing to Mubo where it conducted a series of raids. Eltham was sent back to Australia for several months suffering a knee injury, but returned to New Guinea in July and rejoined the 2/7th Independent Company in its defence of the airfield at Bena Bena. As a platoon commander, Eltham lead patrols in the Ramu Valley to observe the main approaches to Bena Bena airfield. He was involved in preparations for the offensive around Lae, patrolling along the Faria, Logi, and Evapia rivers throughout November before the company returned to Australia. For “gallant and distinguished services” in New Guinea, Eltham was Mentioned in Dispatches.

Eltham had proven himself a capable officer, highly skilled in jungle warfare. In October 1944, he was seconded for duty to Z Special Unit —an administrative unit for Australian Army personnel serving with the Services Reconnaissance Department, the code name for Special Operations Australia. The SRD was a specialist reconnaissance and sabotage unit that involved British, Dutch, New Zealand, Timorese, and Indonesian operatives. It conducted clandestine operations against the Japanese in places such as Borneo and the islands of the former Netherlands East Indies. Since operatives were usually inserted by parachute or by submarine, Eltham was trained and qualified as a parachutist before departing for service with the SRD. Throughout April and May 1945, Eltham was involved in a covert operation known as AGAS in Northwest Borneo.
Forming part of wider planning for the eventual reoccupation of British North Borneo, Z Special Unit sought to establish an intelligence party near Labak Bay and train guerrillas while staging attacks on the Japanese.

On 21 May 1945, Eltham was among the crew and passengers of a B24 Liberator bomber of No. 200 Flight, Royal Australian Air Force, that failed to return to Darwin following an operational sortie in support of SRD. The aircraft had been flying low to drop supplies to Z Special Unit operatives near the village of Melabong when it stalled and clipped a tree, crashing and killing all 11 personnel on board. Aged 36 at the time
of his death, Eltham was buried near Melabong village and now rests in Labuan War Cemetery in Sabah, Malaysia. A small epitaph from his grieving family appears on his headstone: “He gave his life”.

Thomas Eltham is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 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 Captain Thomas Ivanhoe Eltham, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Senior Historian, Military History Section

REFERENCE – Origin of Text: (AWM-2017.1.194) Australian War Memorial; Speech Transcript - X85284 Captain Thomas Eltham, Z Special Unit
KIA 21 May 1945; Story delivered 13 July 2017; (AWM) Australian War Memorial - Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell.
See also (Research Links), with regard to viewing the, Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (VX85284) Captain Thomas Eltham, Z Special Unit, Second World War.