4 February 1942 Private Douglas George Irwin Aust. Aged 22 years.

[Nanna52]

Private Douglas George Irwin Aust.
Service number: VX47278. 2/22nd Battalion (Infantry) AIF.

Killed in action Rabaul, East New Britain, Papua New Guinea
My third cousin he was born 11 February 1919, he was the son of Edgar George Aust and Lillian Jean Hunter and the husband of Ethel Margaret Bodsworth.  He had a young daughter.
As part of Lark Force the 2/22 Battalion was tasked with protecting the seaplane base at Rabaul, the Lakunai and Vunakanau aerodromes and to delay any proposed Japanese advance towards Australia.   At the time of his death he was a prisoner of war and it is believed he was one of about 120 executed by bayoneting by the Japanese at Tol Plantation.

He is buried at the Rabaul War Cemetery and Memorial. 

[ozchook]

Hello Nanna, I realise this is an old posting but you may not know that Doug Aust can be found in a book entitled 'Little Hell, the








Story of the ' compiled by Carl Johnson. There are photos of him, and possibly he is mentioned in the text. I have read this book recently and remembered the unusual name.

[ozchook]

gremlins in the system..so the book is entitled 'Little Hell - the story of the 2/22nd Battalion, Lark Force.' compiled by Carl Johnson.
Regards,
Irene

[Nanna52]

Thanks for that Ozchook I will check the library, I would love to see a photo of him.
I have read a little about Lark Force and what happened to them.  Not nice.

[ozchook]

You're welcome Nanna. There's not just one photo, and if my memory serves me well, which it doesn't much these days, he's on the back cover with a group, up in the hills. We had a family member, Harry Jeffrey, who was in Rabaul and died when the US sub sank the Montevideo Maru. The whole episode was one big debacle, and so sad for us, today, still.

Irene

[Nanna52]

Don't know if they learnt from it either.  His uncle was killed in 1944 on the Rakuyo Maru.

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