Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War II (1939-1945)

Date of Enlistment

10/07/1940

Place of Enlistment

Paddington NSW

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

14/01/1912

Place of Birth

Braidwood NSW

Address (at enlistment)

c/- R. Stroud, Euree Street, Reid, Canberra ACT (Canberra NSW on DVA WW2 Nominal Roll)

Occupation

Bank officer

Next of Kin

Son of William Robert and Beatrice Rosalie Walker, of Randwick NSW.

Service Number

NX56794

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

8 Divisional Supply Column Mechanical Transport, Australian Army Service Corps AIF

Died 1 July 1942 aged 30 years, at sea, South West Pacific area.

AWM Roll of Honour, Canberra ACT: Panel 88.
Rabaul Memorial, Papua New Guinea: Panel 31.

James Walker was working in a bank in Canberra when he enlisted in 1940, along with his brother-in-law, in Sydney. He belonged to the 8th Division Supply Column Mechanical Transport Section and was sent to Rabaul to provide support services to Lark Force. Lark Force included members of the 2/22 Battalion, 1 Independent Company, Fortress Artillery, Engineers, Signal Units, No. 17 Anti/Tank Battery, Anti/Aircraft Battery, No. 19 Special Dental Unit, detachments from the New Guinea Volunteer Rifles, 2/10 Field Ambulance, Ordnance Corps, 8 Division Supply Column, Canteen Services HQ NG area, Royal Australian Air Force and the Royal Australian Navy. On 23rd January 1942 Japanese forces invaded Rabaul, on the island of New Britain, and quickly defeated the much smaller Lark Force and Walker became a prisoner of war.

On 22nd June 1942, the Japanese ordered 852 Australian prisoners of war and 208 civilian internees at Rabaul to board the Montevideo Maru for transport to Hainan Island in the South China Sea. The ship was not marked as carrying prisoners. It was sighted by an American submarine, the USS Sturgeon, on 1 July 1942 off the coast of Luzon in the Philippines. Unaware that it was carrying POWs, the USS Sturgeon torpedoed the Montevideo Maru. In the single biggest maritime disaster in Australian history, all the prisoners on board, including Walker (and his brother-in-law), were killed. He has no known grave. Walker is commemorated on the Rabaul Memorial.

Australia. Department of Veterans' Affairs. World War 2 nominal roll. http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/
Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Debt of Honour Register. <http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/search/>
AWM Roll of Honour and Roll of Honour Circulars <http://www.awm.gov.au/database/roh.asp>
ACT Electoral Roll, 1941
NAA RecordSearch - Series B883
Sydney Morning Herald - 25 October 1945
AWM Prisoners of War and Missing in the Far East and South West Pacific Islands