The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Second Lieutenant Frederick Birks VC, 6th 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on Second Lieutenant Frederick Birks VC, 6th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Second Lieutenant Frederick Birks VC, 6th Battalion, AIF
KIA 21 September 1917
Photograph: P01113.001

Story delivered 22 June 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Second Lieutenant Frederick Birks VC.

Frederick Birks was born in Flintshire, North Wales, and immigrated to Australia in his late teens. Within weeks of the outbreak of the Great War he enlisted at Broadmeadows Camp on the outskirts of Melbourne. He was posted to the 2nd Field Ambulance, Australian Army Medical Corps.

This unit was present at the landing on Gallipoli, providing medical support to the 2nd Australian Infantry Brigade. Birks immediately demonstrated his bravery by single-handedly carrying wounded from positions that stretcher bearers could not reach. Later the 2nd Field Ambulance spent time away from Anzac Cove with the British Forces on Cape Helles. Birks was also noted for his “devotion to duty and good work” here, repeatedly carrying wounded from the firing line under heavy rifle and artillery fire.

In 1916 Birks was serving on the Somme. This was a very different kind of warfare to that on Gallipoli, but Birks again showed initiative and courage in retrieving wounded from difficult situations. At Pozières in July he was commended for continually leading his section of stretcher-bearers to and from the front line under some of the heaviest shell-fire of the war. This won him a Military Medal.

But by May 1917 he had given up his non-combatant role as a stretcher bearer and was transferred to the 6th Battalion as a Second Lieutenant.

Five months later 6th Battalion was detailed to attack Glencorse Wood east of Ypres. As the attack went ahead, it met resistance from a strong post that threatened to hold up the whole advance. Frederick Birks and Lance Corporal King rushed the post together: King was wounded by a bomb, but Birks continued on, killing the enemy at the strong point and capturing their machine-gun. He then quickly organised a small party and attacked another strong point, taking a number of prisoners.

Birks was commended for his “wonderful coolness and personal bravery” which, it was later noted, “kept his men in splendid spirits” throughout the operation. For his actions he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest honour the army could bestow. But this honour was awarded posthumously. While at his post, a shell landed, burying some of his men. While he was trying to get them out, a second shell landed, killing Birks immediately.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War, and 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 Second Lieutenant Frederick Birks, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.