The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (448) Captain Norman Beresford Lovett MC, 54th 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (448) Captain Norman Beresford Lovett MC, 54th Battalion AIF, First World War.

Captain Norman Beresford Lovett MC, 54th Battalion AIF
KIA 9 April 1918
Photograph: P04080.005

Story delivered 3 January 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Captain Norman Beresford Lovett.

Norman Lovett was born in 1891 in Wongarbon, New South Wales, to Fred and Emma Lovett. He was well known in the area, where his father was a teacher at Maryvale Public School. Norman followed his father into teaching, and at the outbreak of war was in charge of Bearbung School near Gilgandra.

Lovett enlisted at Roseberry Park on 23 August 1914 and was taken on strength of the 1st Light Horse Regiment. Within nine days of enlisting he was promoted to sergeant, and left Australia with his unit in October 1914. Following training in Egypt the regiment was sent, unmounted, to Gallipoli in May 1915. There Lovett sustained a gunshot wound to his thigh. Following a month in hospital in Egypt he returned to his unit on Gallipoli, remaining there until the evacuation.

Lovett was transferred to the 1st Battalion in January 1916 and promoted to second lieutenant later that month. Shortly after he was transferred again, this time to the 53rd Battalion, and in June left Egypt for the Western Front.

In July Lovett was chosen to take part in the Allied Military Review in Paris, where he and other guests joined in the parade. He wrote to his mother of the warmth shown to the soldiers by the French people: “It was, as my sergeant expressed it, a case of kissing one’s way through a Paris crowd.”

Days later the 53rd Battalion took part in the disastrous battle of Fromelles. Lovett was leading a platoon in a charge on enemy trenches when he was wounded.

He continued to command his men during a night of heavy fighting, and they took the German position. When the Germans counter-attacked, “he disregarded his wounds and organised a party of wounded men and stragglers to resist”. Lovett’s actions at Fromelles led to him being awarded the Military Cross.

Later that year Lovett was promoted to lieutenant, and in February 1917 he was detached to the 13th Battalion at Gueudecourt when it was tasked with taking a section of enemy trench. Lovett’s bravery in conveying important communications under fire saw him awarded a bar to his Military Cross, and he was congratulated on his gallantry by General Birdwood himself.

In May Lovett was promoted to captain, and in January 1918 was awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre.

On 9 April 1918 Lovett was adjutant of the 54th Battalion near Villers-Bretonneux when the battalion’s headquarters dug-out was shelled, killing Lovett and two others. He was 26.

Lovett was buried in the Aubigny British Cemetery. The 54th’s chaplain, the Reverend Father T. Manning, wrote to Lovett’s father, saying, “Norman was a great friend of mine … he was a perfect soldier, perfect man, and of the most lovable character”. This letter was one of many heartfelt condolences sent to the Lovetts by those who had known their son.

Norman’s Lovett’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Captain Norman Beresford Lovett, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Christina Zissis
Editor, Military History Section

Sources:
Trevor Munro, Graeme Hosken, The contribution of the men and women of Wellington and district to the Great War of 1914–1918, self-published, Dubbo, New South Wales, 2005, pp. 418–25.
http://trees.ancestrylibrary.com/tree/20140107/person/903316350

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/15827168
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/scripts/Imagine.asp?B=8205466