The service and sacrifice of Queanbeyan resident Able Seaman Leslie Laurence Hart will be commemorated at the Australian War Memorial’s Last Post ceremony on January 5, the 80^th anniversary of a kamikaze attack on HMAS Australia.

“Leslie Hart was born in Queanbeyan on November 1 1925, and grew up with his parents and sister in the Canberra suburb of Ainslie,” Australian War Memorial Director Matt Anderson said.

“Les Hart went on to work at the Department of Post-War Reconstruction after it was established in late 1942. On July 1 1943 he enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy and, after five months’ training, he joined the crew of HMAS Australia in early December 1943.

“On 5 January 1945, Able Seaman Leslie Laurence Hart was of one of 25 crewmen killed in an explosion caused by a kamikaze attack on HMAS Australia. He was 19 years old.”

The Last Post ceremony is held at 4.30 pm every day except Christmas Day in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial.

Each ceremony shares the story behind one of 103,000 names on the Roll of Honour. To date, the Memorial has delivered more than 3800 ceremonies, each featuring an individual story of service from colonial to recent conflicts. It would take more than 280 years to read the story behind each of the 103,000 names listed on the Roll of Honour.

The Last Post ceremony honouring the service of Leslie Laurence Hart will be live streamed to the Australian War Memorial’s YouTube page.