The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3339) Private John Joseph Williams, 30th 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (3339) Private John Joseph Williams, 30th Battalion, First World War.

3339 Private John Joseph Williams, 30th Battalion
KIA 10 October 1917
Photograph: P06334.001

Story delivered 10 October 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private John Williams, who was killed fighting in Belgium in the First World War.

John Williams was born in 1886, the only child of Michael and Mary Williams of Clifton, New South Wales. John was schooled at a convent in the Wollongong area, and worked as a coal miner in the years before the war. He married Clara Marshall at Woonona in 1908, and the couple had three children: Clement, Irene, and Elvira.

John enlisted in the AIF in January 1916 and trained at Casula before embarking for overseas service as a reinforcement to the 30th Battalion in May 1916. By this stage the fighting on Gallipoli had come to an end and most Australian units were redeployed to the Western Front. John, however, spent three months at a reinforcement pool in Egypt waiting to be transferred to France. He evidently found it a frustrating time – on one occasion he was charged with using disrespectful language to an NCO and was given three days’ fatigue work.

John’s reinforcement group was transported to the Western Front in August 1916 and he joined his battalion in the trenches near Fromelles. He had been spared the costly and unsuccessful attack his battalion had made at Fromelles in July, but was with the battalion when it endured the harsh winter of 1916–17 in the nearby Houplines sector. In December 1916 he was evacuated to England with trench foot.

Williams rejoined the 30th Battalion in March 1917, just in time to follow up on the German withdrawal from the old Somme battlefields. The battalion had the honour of occupying the town of Bapaume, which had been in German hands since 1914, and missed much of the subsequent fighting for the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt. It did, however, provide flank protection for the 5th Division’s assault at Polygon Wood in Belgium, as British forces slowly advanced towards the high ground at Passchendaele.

On 10 October 1917, the 30th Battalion was occupying a series of captured German trenches on Broodseinde Ridge in preparation for the final push towards Passchendaele village. German artillery bombarded the Australian positions and killed six men, wounding 25 others. One of those killed by the bombardment was Private John Williams, whose remains were hastily buried on the battlefield. His body was never recovered after the war: John Williams is one of 17,000 Australians killed in First World War whose final resting place is unknown. His name is one of 6,000 listed on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres.

His name is also listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others, and his photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

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