The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2016) Corporal James David Pope, 1st Australian Machine Gun Company, 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 Michael Kelly, the story for this day was on (2016) Corporal James David Pope, 1st Australian Machine Gun Company, AIF, First World War.

2016 Corporal James David Pope, 1st Australian Machine Gun Company, AIF
KIA 20 July 1916
Photograph: P11234.001

Story delivered 22 May 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal James Pope, who was killed in France during the First World War.

James David Pope was born in 1896, one of seven children of Francis and Annie Pope of Bowral, New South Wales. Having attended Bowral District School, where he was a second lieutenant in senior cadets under the universal military service scheme, James became a stonemason and worked in the Bowral district. In January 1915 he travelled to Liverpool, where he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, and after three months of training at Casula Military Camp, James left for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the 2nd Battalion.

Troops of the 2nd Battalion were already in action on Gallipoli when James arrived in Egypt. He joined in his battalion on the peninsula in late July, just in time to take part in the bitter fighting at Lone Pine during the August Offensive. Other than a brief period spent on the Greek island of Lemnos in September, James remained on the peninsula until in December 1915, when Anzac troops were evacuated to Egypt.

For the Australians, the first few months of 1916 were spent preparing for the fighting on the Western Front. The two Australian infantry divisions that had fought on Gallipoli effectively doubled over this time. Experienced men were sent to newly raised units, which were reconstituted with fresh reinforcements. In February 1916 James was transferred to the 1st Machine Gun Company and promoted to lance corporal before embarking for France.

James arrived on the Western Front at a time when the British were making a major push on the Somme. In late July Australian troops of the 1st Division moved up the line to the village of Contalmaison, where they would attack the German-occupied village of Pozières. On 20 July, having just relieved the British, the men of the 1st Machine Gun Company were establishing their positions when Corporal James Pope was recorded as having been killed in action. The historical records do not tell us how he died, but it was likely from the German artillery bombardment that routinely fell on the Australian positions. All we know is that James was hastily buried on the outskirts of Contalmaison, and his grave was destroyed in later fighting. His remains were never recovered, and so he is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux along with 10,500 Australians killed fighting in France who have no known grave.

James Pope was just 20 years old when he died. He was remembered by the people of Bowral as a “young man of whom Bowral can feel proud – jovial, fearless and honourable. And although quite a lad when leaving to fight for his country … he developed into a splendid specimen of hardy soldier.”

James Pope 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 by 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 Corporal James Pope, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section