The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Captain Arthur Warren, 9th Battalion, AIF, 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 Joanne Smedley, the story for this day was on Captain Arthur Warren, 9th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Captain Arthur Warren, 9th Battalion, AIF
KIA 18 June 1916
No photograph in collection.

Story delivered 3 August 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Captain Arthur Warren.

Arthur Warren was born on 17 September 1894 to John and Arabella Warren. He was brought up in the Darling Downs area of Queensland and was working as a teacher at the Boys School in Ipswich when the First World War began.

Warren, who had already served as a second lieutenant in his local militia battalion, applied for a commission in the Australian Imperial Force. He was accepted with the rank of second lieutenant in January 1915 and assigned to the 3rd reinforcements for the 9th Battalion.

Warren embarked from Brisbane in February 1915 aboard the transport ship Seang Choon, which then sailed for Egypt. After disembarking in April he sailed for Gallipoli later that month and joined the 9th Battalion in early May.

In August Warren was promoted to lieutenant and in November he was seconded to the permanent beach party overseeing preparations for the evacuation of the peninsula. After the evacuation of Gallipoli he returned to Egypt, where he rejoined the 9th Battalion in January 1916.

Warren was promoted to captain in February, and later sailed with his battalion to France, disembarking at Marseilles in early April. The 9th Battalion travelled by train to northern France, and from here it entered the front-line trenches of the “nursery sector” to gain experience on the Western Front.

In June the battalion began preparations for a raid on German positions near Fleurbaix, close to a position known as the “sugarloaf”. On the night of 18 June Captain Warren led a reconnaissance patrol to familiarise some of the raiders with the ground over which they would be operating. As the party reached the German wire, a commotion was heard in the nearby trenches and the men hit the ground. There was a brief lull and then, according to the diary of one of the men in the patrol, “a flash and Captain Warren was killed”. The men collected their officer’s body and with great difficulty withdrew back to their own lines.

Captain Warren was buried at No. 1 Military Cemetery at Rue–du–Bois, near Armentières.

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 Memorial’s 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 Captain Arthur Warren, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.