The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (917) Private James Francis Leo, 26th Battalion, AIF, First World War

Place Europe: France, Picardie, Somme, Somme Valley
Accession Number PAFU2015/240.01
Collection type Film
Object type Last Post film
Physical description 16:9
Maker Australian War Memorial
Place made Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell
Date made 20 June 2015
Access Open
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Description

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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (917) Private James Francis Leo, 26th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

917 Private James Francis Leo, 26th Battalion, AIF
DOW 11 November 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 20 June 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private James Francis Leo.

Born at Railton in Tasmania, Leo was the second of 12 children. His older brother John had joined up just weeks after the outbreak of the First World War, and was serving with the 12th Battalion. James Leo had to get his mother’s permission to enlist, which he did in February 1915, aged 19.

Leo was assigned to the 26th battalion, which was made up of recruits from Queensland and Tasmania, and formed part of the 7th Brigade. He left Australia at the end of June, and after training in Egypt he was sent on to Gallipoli, arriving at the end of September 1915. Leo’s brother John had been killed on 8 August while fighting in the bloody battle of Lone Pine.

After only ten days on the peninsula Leo was suffering from dysentery and malaria. He was sent first to the island of Mudros, then to hospital in Malta. After a lengthy recuperation, Leo re-joined his unit in Egypt in March 1916. His battalion was sent to France later that month, but again Leo became sick. He returned to his unit in early June 1916.

The 26th battalion fought in its first major battle around Pozières in the Somme valley between 28 July and 7 August. The fighting was intense and casualties were high, with some 23,000 Australians killed or wounded during the push. However, Leo came through the fighting unscathed, and after a short spell in Belgium, his battalion went south in October to attack again in the Somme Valley.

The 26th Battalion took part in two attacks to the east of Flers, both of which floundered in mud and slush. On 11 November 1916 Leo was shot in the stomach. He died the same day of his wounds.

On 24 November, a short piece appeared in the family’s local newspaper, the North Western Advocate, recording Leo’s loss. “This makes the second son Mrs Leo has lost fighting the battles of this Empire,” the report said. “This patriotic mother is now bereft of all her grown-up sons, as those remaining are of tender age. The sincerest sympathy is extended to her in her time of sorrow.”

The name of Private James Francis Leo is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with around 60,000 others from the First World War.

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

Emma Campbell
Writer, Military History Section