Service: Army – 2/21 Australian Infantry Battalion
Service number: VX31882
Locality on Enlistment: Apollo Bay
Duration of Service: 13 Jun 1940 – 20 Feb 1942
Prisoner of War: Yes
Honours: None for display
Date and Place of Birth: 26 Apr 1915 Coburg
Parents: Arthur COSTIN and Ann Orr McKELVEY
Spouse: Lillian May TELFORD
School/s:
Occupation: Butcher
Date and Place of Death: 20 Feb 1942 Laha Airfield, Ambon, Indonesia
Place of Burial: Ambon Memorial Cemetery Meluku Indonesia
NOTES: The 2/21st Australian battalion, with supporting units and a detachment of Lockheed Hudson bombers from No. 13 Squadron, RAAF, was landed at Ambon in mid-December 1941. This combined unit, known as “Gull Force”, reinforced the existing local garrison of 2,600 men, and was placed under the overall command of Dutch Lieutenant Colonel J.R.L.Kapitz. Following intensive air attacks in late January 1942, the Hudsons were withdrawn, leaving the troops without support. The Japanese invasion on 29–30 January, supported by heavy air and sea bombardments, quickly overwhelmed the defenders, who surrendered on 3 February. The small force of about 300 men defending the airfield at Laha were summarily executed by their captors, and buried in mass graves. The fate of these men was not discovered until after the war, while the remainder of Gull Force endured a captivity so harsh that nearly 75 percent of them died before liberation. Australian War Memorial