The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2451) Private Claude Stanley Prior, 18th 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on (2451) Private Claude Stanley Prior, 18th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

2451 Private Claude Stanley Prior, 18th Battalion, AIF
KIA 25 February 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 6 November 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Claude Stanley Prior.

Claude Prior was born in Jamberoo, near Kiama in New South Wales, the son of Anna and George Prior. He attended the Kiama Superior Public School, and later moved to Singleton, where he worked as a labourer. Prior was considered by many in Singleton to be a “fine stamp of manhood, and … a clean, straight goer, for whom they had the highest of opinions”.

Claude enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915 and, after a period of training, was sent to Egypt in October of the same year. He probably arrived too late to see action at Gallipoli, but instead underwent further training in Egypt before being sent to France. He arrived on the Western Front in March 1916.

Private Prior was with his battalion through the battles at Pozières and Mouquet Farm in the summer of 1916. Early in the New Year he received leave to go to England. He spent two weeks there, writing home to his parents shortly before returning to the front.

Just over a month later the 18th Battalion was ordered to make an attack against a German position known as Malt Trench, near the Butte de Warlencourt. As the attack went ahead, the battalion came under heavy German rifle and machine-gun fire.

Private Prior was part of a Lewis gun crew, which was invaluable in covering the withdrawal of some parts of the 18th Battalion. However, the crew drew heavy fire, and as a result suffered heavy casualties. One of those casualties was Private Claude Prior.

The chaplain of his battalion wrote to Claude’s parents in Singleton, saying:

it will be some consolation, I hope, to you to know that by staying at their post the gun’s crew saved many of their comrades from certain death. I hear from his company commander that Private Prior was one of the best gunners in the company, and that his loss is a real one to the battalion.

Private Claude Prior was hurriedly buried close to the place he was killed. In the confusion of subsequent fighting his grave was lost, and he is now commemorated on the memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. In Australia, flags around Singleton were flown at half-mast following the news of Prior’s death. Days after the news had reached them, a small parcel of souvenirs arrived at his parents’ house, sent by Claude from London before his return to the Western Front.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War.

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