The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (161) Private Raymond Holstein Pflaum, 32nd Battalion (Infantry), First World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial every 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 Charis May the story for this day was on (161) Private Raymond Holstein Pflaum, 32nd Battalion (Infantry), First World War.

161 Private Raymond Holstein Pflaum, 32nd Battalion
KIA 19 July 1916
Photograph: P09291.453

Story delivered 15 June 2013

Today, we remember and pay tribute to Private Raymond Holstein Pflaum of the 32nd Battalion, AIF, who died on 19 July 1916 at Fromelles in France.

Raymond Pflaum was a first generation Australian whose father had emigrated from the Danish province of Holstein in the 1860s and was one of two representatives for the House of Assembly seat of Murray in South Australia. Raymond Pflaum worked as a shop assistant in Blumberg, South Australia, before enlisting in the AIF in June 1915, stating clearly he was a "Naturalised British Subject" and not "of enemy origin" - an understandable declaration since Blumberg was one of many places in the state with a large population of German immigrants.

Having left Australia with troops of the 32nd Battalion, Pflaum arrived in Egypt in December 1915 just as Australian troops were withdrawing from the Gallipoli campaign. He spent several months training in Egypt, and in June 1916 the 32nd Battalion arrived in France and settled down in the quiet Armentières sector the troops called "the nursery". Here they were to learn the routine of trench warfare on the Western Front, to conduct raids on the German positions and to patrol no-man's land as other Australians units had done before them.

After fewer than two weeks in France, Pflaum took part in his first and only action on the Western Front. On 19 July 1916, Australian troops of the 5th Division attacked a feature known as the Sugar Loaf, just outside the village of Fromelles. In what was an extremely costly and unsuccessful action, Raymond Pflaum was one of 5,533 casualties the 5th Division sustained in less than 24 hours. He found his brother, Theodor, lying on the battlefield with a severe bullet wound in his stomach. The last time Raymond was seen alive was when Theodor dragged him to the safety of a dugout in the German trenches.

After the battle, Raymond Pflaum was listed as "missing in action"; this was later changed to "killed in action". Tragically for the Pflaum family, Lieutenant Theodor Pflaum was also mortally wounded during the fighting at Ypres.

Raymond Pflaum remained missing for 93 years until a mass grave on the German side of the Fromelles battlefield was discovered by archaeologists in 2009. It contained the remains of 250 Australian and British soldiers killed at Fromelles. Among them was Raymond, who was positively identified through DNA testing. Today, Raymond Pflaum rests in a marked grave in Pheasant Wood Military Cemetery at the village of Fromelles.

Raymond and Theodor Pflaum are both listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War.

Theirs is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Raymond Holstein Pflaum, his brother, Second Lieutenant Theodor Pflaum, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.