Leon Alfred Berliner was born in Melbourne on 26 June 1923, only son of Frances Ethel (née Knight) and Alfred Lewis Berliner of Brighton, part-owner of Berliner and McDonald, hardware and crockery merchants. Leon was educated at Melbourne Grammar School, worked as a junior traveller in the family business, and was a keen yachtsman at the St Kilda 14 Foot Sailing Club.

In October 1941, aged 18 but stating he was 21 years old and of the Church of England religion, VX65015 Private Leon Alfred Berliner enlisted in the 2nd AIF at Royal Park. He was training for ‘Special Duty’ near Bacchus Marsh in December 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. Leon travelled to Darwin to join reinforcements of 2/21st Battalion, who embarked on 17 January 1942 for the three-day, 1200km boat journey north to the Indonesian island of Ambon. The majority of “Gull Force” had landed on the small but strategic island one month earlier to support the Dutch East Indies forces, and the combined 3,700 Allied troops continued to be attacked by Japanese aircraft.

The Battle of Ambon began on 30 January when enemy troops landed. As the Japanese numbers grew rapidly to 20,000, the Dutch troops surrendered. Despite instances of brave, determined resistance, the 2/21st could not hold the enemy back and, on 2 February, two companies of 230 men defending the airfield at Laha surrendered. They were summarily executed by their Japanese captors and buried in mass graves. The remainder of the battalion surrendered the next day and were imprisoned in their former barracks at Tan Tui.

Leon was reported: “Missing, believed deceased, Laha Garrison - cause unknown – on or after 7 February 1942” and later, as having been executed by the Japanese on 15 February – four months after he enlisted and two days before the fall of Singapore. Aged 18, Leon was one of the youngest Australians who ‘Died as Prisoner of War,’ in what became known as the ‘Laha Massacre’. Gull Force endured a captivity so harsh that three quarters of its 1,130 men died before liberation. The shocking fate of these bold men was not discovered until after the Japanese surrender in August 1945.

Only then did Leon’s family learn the details of his death, and so minyan was held for him at the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation on 30 November 1945. As he has no known grave, Private Leon Alfred Berliner’s name is engraved at Ambon Memorial, Indonesia, where the soldiers’ remains were re-interred.

POSTCRIPT

Soon after the 1942 surrender, 30 Australian soldiers escaped from Ambon and on 19 February Japanese aircraft based on the island bombed Darwin. Over the following 3½ years, many POWs were sent to Hainan, China, while 405 of the 582 who remained, died from overwork, malnutrition, disease, “medical experiments” and brutal bashings. In 1946, 93 Japanese personnel were tried for war crimes relating to Ambon, resulting in several death sentences.

Leon Alfred Berliner was born in Melbourne on 26 June 1923, only son to Frances Ethel (née Knight) and Alfred Lewis Berliner of Brighton, who subsequently had a daughter, Shelley. Portentously, in 1934 Alfred and the other owner of Berliner and McDonald, hardware and crockery merchants, travelled to “Japan and other Eastern countries on a business tour” for about three months, while Leon was being educated at Melbourne Grammar School. Afterwards, Leon started working as a junior traveller in his father’s business, was a keen yachtsman and a member of the St. Kilda 14ft Sailing Club (now part of the Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron).

On 17 October 1941, aged just 18 - and without his parents’ consent - Leon attested that he was 21 years old and of the Church of England religion, when he enlisted in the 2nd AIF at Royal Park: No. VX65015 Private Leon Alfred Berliner. He was transferred to the 2nd Training Battalion at Darley, near Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, and posted to the 13 Reinforcements of 2/6th Battalion for ‘Special Duty’ in December - the same month that Japan attacked Pearl Harbour. Shortly after the new year of 1942, Leon travelled by train and truck to Darwin, NT, to join reinforcements of 2/21st Battalion. Four days later, on 17 January they embarked by ship on the three-day journey of some 1200km north to Ambon, where the majority of “Gull Force” had landed one month earlier to support the Dutch East Indies forces. With two airfields, the small Netherlands East Indies (now Indonesian) island was strategic for both Allied and Japanese forces, and had already been subject to attack by Japanese aircraft.

The Battle of Ambon began on 30 January. Although the initial Japanese landing forces were numerically not much greater than the Allies’ combined 3,700, the Japanese had overwhelming superiority in tanks, air support, naval and field artillery. As their numbers rapidly grew to some 20,000, the Dutch troops surrendered, and, despite instances of brave, determined resistance, the 2/21st could not hold the enemy back. On 2 February, about 230 men of its B and C Companies defending the airfield at Laha surrendered. They were summarily executed by their Japanese captors and buried in mass graves. The remainder of the battalion surrendered the next day and were imprisoned in their former barracks at Tan Tui.

In April, Leon was officially reported: “Missing, believed deceased, Laha Garrison - cause unknown – on or after 7 February 1942.” The next note in his service papers, handwritten in 1945-46, records that he was executed by the Japanese on 15 February 1942 - less than four months after he enlisted - and two days before the fall of Singapore. Aged 18, Leon ‘Died as Prisoner of War’ in what became known as the ‘Laha Massacre’. The fate of these bold men was not discovered until after the Japanese surrender in August 1945 and the remainder of Gull Force had endured a captivity so harsh that nearly three quarters of its 1131 men died before liberation.

Therefore, it was not until some months after the war in the Pacific ended that Leon’s family learnt that, shortly after becoming a prisoner-of-war, he had been executed by Japanese forces. As soon as details of his death were received, minyan was arranged for Leon at the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation on 30 November 1945.

In 1946, the murdered soldiers’ remains were re-interred from the mass graves to Ambon War Cemetery. As he has no known grave, Private Leon Alfred Berliner’s name is engraved on Column 3 of the Ambon Memorial, Maluku, Indonesia. His name also appears on the Prisoner of War Memorial at Ballarat, Victoria.

POSTCRIPT

The author of these narratives, Peter Allen, believes that 18-year-old Private Leon Alfred Berliner was one of the youngest Australians to die as a Prisoner of War – but, because Leon overstated his age by three years, that fact has not yet been recognised.

In the period of several weeks after their surrender, approximately 30 Australian soldiers escaped from Ambon, many by rowing prahus (canoes) to the island of Seram. Another result of the capture of Ambon was the realisation of Australian-held fears of air attacks, when shortly afterwards, Japanese aircraft based at Ambon took part in the second major air raid of 19 February on Darwin NT. Subsequently, the Japanese carried out more than 100 bombing and strafing raids on Darwin and other towns of northern Australia.

Over the following three and a half years, the surviving POWs suffered an ordeal and a death rate second only to the horrors of Sandakan, Borneo: first on Ambon and then, after many were sent late in 1942 to the island of Hainan, China, such that three-quarters of the Australians captured on Ambon had died before the war's end. Of the 582 who remained on Ambon, 405 died. Most died of overwork, malnutrition, disease, “medical experiments” and one of the most brutal regimes among POW camps, in which bashings were routine. Tragically, some died unwittingly by an allied bombing raid.

In 1946, incidents which followed the fall of Ambon became the subject of one of the largest ever war crimes trials: 93 Japanese personnel were tried by an Australian military tribunal at Ambon. Rear Admiral Hatakeyama Koichiro was found to have ordered the Laha massacres, however he died before he could be tried. Commander Hatakeyama Kunito, who was in direct command of the massacres, was sentenced to execution by hanging. Lieutenant Kenichi Nakagawa was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment.

At the war’s end, from nearly 300 Australian war crimes trials, 924 Japanese servicemen were tried and 644 were convicted. Of 148 sentenced to death, 137 were executed – roughly one-sixth of the totals in the Pacific theatre.

The Berliner family suffered a double loss during the war. Leon’s uncle, Lance Sergeant Harris Lionel Berliner, died of illness while serving with the Australian Army Canteens Service in Melbourne.

Leon’s loved ones continued to remember him in the ensuing years. In 1950, his mother wrote in the newspaper:
“To the world you were one,
To me you were the world.
– Mother.”

His parents bestowed to Melbourne Grammar School ‘The Leon Berliner Prize’, awarded for Service to the School.
In 1953, Shelley named her son Leon Alfred, after her adored older brother.