The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2641) Private Geoffrey Grant Carter, 16th 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (2641) Private Geoffrey Grant Carter, 16th Battalion (Infantry), First World War.

2641 Pte Geoffrey Grant Carter, 16th Battalion
DOW 29 March 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 19 August 2013

Today, we remember and pay tribute to Private Geoffrey Grant Carter.

Geoffrey Carter was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, and came to Australia when he was six years old. His family settled in Fremantle, Western Australia, and Geoffrey was educated at the Christian Brothers' College in nearby Perth. From the age of 17, he worked as a business manager for a number of branches of the shipping firm Carter & Co. He left the firm in June 1915 to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force.

Geoffrey's brother Stanley had enlisted in the artillery in 1914 and gone to Gallipoli. A month after Geoffrey's enlistment, Stanley was killed in action - he lies buried in Shrapnel Gully on the peninsula.

Geoffrey would end up spending just over a month in Gallipoli, leaving on the last day of the evacuation. However, he would not see serious fighting until the 16th Battalion were sent to the Western Front. In August 1916 the battalion were put into the line near Mouquet Farm in northern France. On the 10th, in an attack against the German line near the farm, Geoffrey Carter was seriously wounded by gunshots to his back and left side. His spine and lower back was pulverised by the blasts, and he was rendered a paraplegic.

Carter was eventually sent to the King George Hospital in London in a dangerously ill condition. He suffered from total paralysis with constant bedsores and bladder infections. He finally convinced doctors to send him home to Australia for what were expected to be the last few months of his life.

Accordingly, Carter was discharged from the AIF as permanently unfit and sent home to Fremantle. Four months later, on 29 March 1917, Geoffrey Carter passed away in hospital at the age of 23. Hundreds of people attended his funeral, from members of the choirs and bands he had participated in as a boy to previous work colleagues, his family, and other members of the armed services, both returned soldiers and those about to go.

Geoffrey Carter's name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Geoffrey Grant Carter, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.