The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Captain Ralph Ratnevelu Raymond Ekin-Smyth, 52nd Battalion (Infantry), 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on Captain Ralph Ratnevelu Raymond Ekin-Smyth, 52nd Battalion (Infantry), First World War.

Captain Ralph Ratnevelu Raymond Ekin-Smyth, 52nd Battalion
KIA 3 September 1916
Photograph: P04822.001

Story delivered 1 February 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Captain Ralph Ratnevelu Raymond Ekin-Smyth.

Ralph Ekin-Smyth was born in London and moved to Australia when he was nine years old. His family settled in Adelaide, where he attended the Sturt Street Public School and later became a customs officer. On 16 January 1901 he married Hilda Marsom Buttfield at her family home. Their daughter was born on 17 December 1902, and was eventually followed by three sons.

Ekin-Smyth was heavily involved in the South Australian citizens' militia. He spent four years with the infantry before transferring to the artillery, where he was promoted to lieutenant. He had been in the artillery with the militia for twenty years when the First World War began. Ekin-Smyth applied for, and was granted, a commission in the Australian Imperial Force in 1915 at the age of forty.

Captain Ekin-Smyth arrived in Egypt in mid-December 1915, just before the evacuation of ANZAC Cove. Although he had left Australia with the 32nd Battalion, when the AIF was reorganised in Egypt following the Gallipoli campaign he was transferred to the 52nd Battalion and given command of C Company. He and his new battalion finally reached France to fight on the Western Front on 12 June 1916.

The 52nd Battalion first experienced front-line conditions near Fleurbaix. This was a quiet part of the line, and the battalion would not see major action until it moved south to become involved in the fighting around Pozières and Mouquet Farm.

On 3 September 1916 the 52nd Battalion was in the middle of the last attack conducted by I ANZAC in the battle of Pozières. His company was to support the 51st Battalion as they tried to capture Mouquet Farm. However, his men advanced too far and ran into their own artillery barrage. Ekin-Smyth realised the problem and was guiding them back when he was mortally wounded. It was reported later that as he lay on the ground, both of his legs shot off, he continued shouting to his men and waving them back into position. He died before he could be taken for help. Without their leader, C Company again advanced, and was so cut up by enemy fire that, in the words of the after-action report, it ceased to exist as an organised unit.

Ralph's wife never remarried. In 1951, at the age of 72, she was struck by a motor cycle while crossing the road, and died in the Repatriation General Hospital established after the war to care for returned veterans.

Ralph Ekin-Smyth's name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 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 Captain Ralph Ratnevelu Raymond Ekin-Smyth, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.