Australia’s last remaining World War II prisoner of war has died

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Australia’s last remaining World War II prisoner of war, Arthur Leggett, has died in Perth, Western Australia. He was aged 106. Born in 1918, Arthur first enlisted in 1936. He was a survivor of the Lamsdorf Death March to Munich. This group were forced to cross the Czech Alps in the midst of the European winter. They travelled the 800 kilometres, through heavy snow, covering 15 to 25 kms a day and scrounging whatever food they could. Even when the prisoners of war were liberated by American forces, their troubles weren’t over. After boarding a plane to fly to England, it crashed after a wheel fell off. Arthur Leggett was given a state funeral. A riderless horse, with boots reversed in the stirrups, led the march. The soldiers following took one step for every kilometre that Arthur marched on the journey to Munich. The service concluded with a flyover by the Royal Australian Air Force. And so another great soldier who fought for our freedom has been laid to rest. The photo is of the first war cemetery that we came across when we were touring Europe in 2015.