Indo-Pacific partners share history of sacrifice

In the dim first light of day, a contingent of ADF personnel gathered for a dawn service on August 17 at the Commonwealth War Cemetery in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka.

CAPTION: Australian military personnel gather for a dawn service at the Trincomalee Commonwealth War Cemetery in Sri Lanka. Story by Lieutenant Jonathan Wills. Photos by Leading Seaman David Cox.

As crows silently wheeled in circles above the solemn gathering, two headstones were marked with lit candles.

These identified the final resting place of two young Australians who died in service during World War 2.

ADF members were in Sri Lanka for Australia’s flagship regional engagement activity, Indo-Pacific Endeavour (IPE), and the commemoration service wrapped up activities held in partnership with Sri Lanka’s Navy and Air Force.

Speaking at the service, Commander IPE Commodore Michael Harris said such occasions were a chance to acknowledge those who gave their lives to protect the common values held dear today.

“The sacrifice of the servicemen buried here also reminds us of the enduring relationships we have with our Indo-Pacific partners,” Commodore Harris said.

“More than 80 years after the war, the partnership that Australia shares with Sri Lanka remains strong, grounded in shared values.”

Of the 314 graves at the cemetery, two Australians are buried alongside allied partners from the United Kingdom, India, New Zealand and other nations, who paid the ultimate price of war.

Able Seaman John Colin Allan was just 19 when he died on Armistice Day, November 11, 1944. He was in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve.  From Koroit, near Warrnambool in Victoria, he served in the destroyer HMAS Norman, which spent much of the war escorting convoys in the Indian Ocean.

Sergeant William Ernest Pearce, from Rose Bay in Sydney, was in the Royal Australian Air Force. He served with 261 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, piloting a Hurricane Mk IIB fighter. He was killed in action on April 9, 1942, at the age of 23.

Like many of those buried at the cemetery, an inscription on each of their graves reads: “His duty fearlessly and nobly done, ever remembered.”

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