The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Second Lieutenant Lindsay Gordon Glowrey, 16 Battalion, 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on Second Lieutenant Lindsay Gordon Glowrey, 16 Battalion, First World War.

Second Lieutenant Lindsay Gordon Glowrey, 16th Battalion
KIA 11 April 1917
Photograph: P02912.005

Story delivered 29 December 2013

Today we remember and pay tribute to Second Lieutenant Lindsay Gordon Glowrey.

Lindsay Glowrey was the son of James Glowrey, proprietor of the well-known Perth landmark the Palace Hotel. As a teenager he received elocution lessons from Lionel Logue, later famed for treating King George VI for his stammer. Following his education at Christian Brothers' College in Perth, he became an articled law clerk. He left his position with the law firm of Smith & Lavan to enlist in the 16th Battalion in October 1915. He applied for, and received, a commission as a second lieutenant a month later.

Glowrey's parents believed that he was engaged in instruction work and also as a transport officer soon after his arrival in England, and they put this information in his various obituaries in Perth. In fact, Glowrey was in hospital with VD for most of this time, but perhaps too embarrassed to write home to explain the cause.

But Lindsay Glowrey continued to want to serve his country on the battlefield. By January 1917 Glowrey was seen fit to return to his unit in the line, and finally made it back to France in March of that year. Just six weeks later the 16th Battalion was attacking an outpost to the Hindenburg Line, an extremely strong defensive work the German army had retired to following the battle of the Somme. Seventeen officers and 700 men of the 16th Battalion went into the attack. Just three officers and 87 men returned. Second Lieutenant Lindsay Glowrey was one of the men killed in action on that day. He was 25 years old.

Glowrey was commemorated in Australia with a number of obituaries in the Western Australian newspapers and a large memorial service in a Catholic church in Perth.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with around 60,000 others from the First World War, and his photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Second Lieutenant Lindsay Gordon Glowrey, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.