The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2064) Sergeant Lancelot Douglas Nicol, 14 Field Artillery Brigade, 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 (2064) Sergeant Lancelot Douglas Nicol, 14 Field Artillery Brigade, First World War.

2064 Sgt Lancelot Douglas Nicol
KIA 24 October 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 4 January 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sergeant Lancelot Douglas Nicol of the 14th Brigade of the Australian Field Artillery.

Lance Nicol was born in Temora, New South Wales, and grew up in the town of Millthorpe. Nicol was a butcher, and was running a new business at Forest Reefs at the outbreak of the First World War. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in September 1915 and went into training with the Light Horse. Just over a month later he was joined by his friend Tom Vaughan, also of Millthorpe.

The two were transferred to the artillery and were both promoted to corporal in camp. Nicol should have left Australia sooner, but while in Sydney he became involved in stopping a fracas in the training camp, and damaged his knee, first dislocated three years earlier. After a last visit to his parents he was finally ready to go. Nicol and Vaughan left Millthorpe together to the sound of "They are Jolly Good Fellows", sung by townspeople assembled at the local railway station to wish the two popular soldiers farewell.

In Egypt, Nicol continued to enjoy camp life, although he later wrote to his parents that he did not like the country at all. After a further period of training he was sent to England, and then to France and the Western Front.

There Nicol was diagnosed with a hernia and transferred to England for surgery, which took him some months to recover from. He was not entirely truthful to his parents, however, writing that he had been wounded. He spent time recuperating in Weymouth and gained a staff position while waiting to hear the result of his - ultimately unsuccessful - application to join the flying corps.

Nicol was eventually sent back to his artillery unit at the Western Front. On 24 October 1917 he was at Westhoek Ridge in Belgium. Nicol's battery was so heavily bombarded that they had to leave their guns and take shelter in a dugout. Unfortunately for Nicol and four others, their dugout was the site of a direct hit by a German artillery shell. Nicol and three others were killed immediately, the fourth dying later of his wounds.

The news of Nicol's death was met with "deep gloom" in Millthorpe, where he was considered "one of the most popular young men". His last letter home was received after news of his death. His mother donated an extra Honour Roll board to the local Methodist Church in memory of Lance; the first board had already been filled. The minister at the memorial service asked the congregation to look at the Honour Rolls just presented and ask themselves: "Are we proving worthy of those men who thought nothing of life, who gave their best? Let us live to be worthy of them. Live with confidence in God."

Lance Nicol's friend Thomas Vaughan was awarded a Military Medal late in the war and was repatriated to Australia in May 1919. Lance Nicol was buried at Hooge Crater Cemetery in Belgium. He was one month short of his 25th birthday.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War. There is no photograph in the collection to display 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 Sergeant Lancelot Douglas Nicol, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.