The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4520) Private William Arthur Ives, 6th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial each day. The ceremony commemorates more than 102,000 Australians who have given their lives in war and other operations and whose names are recorded on the Roll of Honour. At each ceremony the story behind one of the names on the Roll of Honour is told. Hosted by Meredith Duncan, the story for this day was on (4520) Private William Arthur Ives, 6th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

4520 Private William Arthur Ives, 6th Battalion, AIF
KIA 20 April 1918
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 19 September 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private William Arthur Ives.

William Ives was born in 1890 to Walter and Alice Ives of Eaglehawk, Victoria. He grew up in and around Bendigo, and attended the local state school. When he was 14 William, his cousin Arthur, and friend Robert Sayer got into trouble for shooting at a cart after a conversation with the driver. Only the 12-year-old Sayer was charged, and he received a minimal punishment, the judge calling the three a group of “careless boys” and saying that “that day should be a lesson that would be remembered … not only boys but men were too prone to take up firearms and handle them carelessly”. Ives went on to become a gold miner in the California Gully district.

He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915. On 21 August, roughly six weeks after his enlistment, he married Christina Munro in St John’s Church in Footscray. Less than three weeks later Ives’ son, William Arthur Ives Junior, was born. Ives continued training and left Melbourne in January 1916 on board the troopship Themistocles.

Private Ives arrived in Egypt and continued training with the 6th Battalion. He was then sent to France to serve on the Western Front. Later that year he spent some time seconded to the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company. He spent much of the bitterly cold winter of 1916–17 rotating in and out of the front line, which caused his health to deteriorate. He underwent treatment in hospital for trench fever, conjunctivitis, and tonsillitis.

In July 1917 a man called Jack Griffiths visited William Ives’ parents in Bendigo, falsely claiming that their son had died of illness in hospital.
Mrs Ives remained convinced her son was fine, and she wrote to the authorities to try to “put a stop to the trouble and anxiety this man caused me”.

Whatever Jack Griffiths’ motives, Ives continued to improve under treatment, and by early 1918 his health had improved enough that he was able to spend a solid block of time with the battalion, which in late April was in divisional reserve near Hazebrouck in France. Heavy shell-fire was brought to bear on the area by the German army, and it struck the dug-out in which Ives sheltered. He and another man were killed instantly in the blast. His platoon commander later wrote to Ives’ wife:
"your late husband had been in my platoon for some time, and I was with him when he met his death … I felt his loss keenly, as he was always a fine soldier, a brave man, who always did his duty and the boys also wish me to mention that they lost a good pal when your husband died."

William Ives was buried in the nearby village of Caestre. He was 28 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died during the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private William Arthur Ives, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section