Remembrance Day 2024: 80 years on from the dawn of hope in WWII

As World War Two entered its sixth – and eventual final – year of conflict, cautious optimism that the fighting might soon come to an end started to take hold within Commonwealth Bank with hopes its enlisted staff would come home safely.

The D-Day invasion of Europe in June 1944 by Allied forces and the turning of the tide against the Japanese in the Pacific had, by Remembrance Day and then Christmas of that year, bolstered expectations that the war was reaching a successful conclusion.

That was reflected in the chairman and managing director’s messages in the December issue of CBA’s staff magazine Bank Notes: both looked forward to the end of the conflict. But they cautioned readers that “much fighting remains to be done” with continued support needed from those on the home front in Australia for those serving overseas.

Sir Claude Reading, who chaired the CBA board between 1934 and 1945, wrote that the events of the past 12 months had given some justification “to hope that in the not-too-distant future, we shall be able to celebrate the Christmas season in the true joyous spirit of peace on earth, goodwill toward men under conditions arising from a victorious peace”.

Governor Hugh Armitage, whose role was akin to today’s CEO, thanked all of the bank’s staff who were fighting on different fronts of the war and its team in London office who were bearing the brunt of the flying bomb attacks being launched against the British capital by the Germans.

“Victory is assured but much fighting remains to be done and our men of the Forces need the utmost encouragement and support we can give them from the home front,” wrote Armitage.

He also praised the service people who had been able to return to CBA after their wartime operations and those men and women who had worked long hours to maintain the bank’s core business of supporting customers.

“I fully appreciate the additional burden which has fallen upon those of the staff who are carrying on the bank’s work … Strenuous as the past year has been, there has been some alleviation of the long hours of the previous war years and in addition we have been heartened by the Allied successes on all fronts.”

The Governor’s comments were echoed in Bank Notes’ around-the-branches section, where personal news and messages were shared between teams and individual staff members across the country.

But those news items and what had become an equally regular and poignant section of the magazine continued to remind the bank of the human cost of the war and of those who would never return after making the ultimate sacrifice.

Headed “The Fifteenth Casualty List”, a further 23 men were named as either being killed, died of their wounds or missing in action presumed dead. Preceding pages of the magazine also carried photos and short biographies of them and other bank staff who had been killed in previous months.

Those lists and stories were to continue for more months to come and even after the wars in Europe and in the Pacific finally came to an end by August 1945.

They were – and continue to be for modern-day readers – sad reminders of the true cost of conflict. For of the 2,900 CBA staff who served in WW2, 307 were killed or died as a result of their service.

Lest we forget this Remembrance Day.

Research: Julianne Liddicoat, curator, Commonwealth Bank Group Archives. Banner image: Celebrating Victory Day in Sydney in 1945 (Australian War Memorial/044808)

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