The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Lieutenant John Cecil Drury Reid, 4th Pioneer 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on Lieutenant John Cecil Drury Reid, 4th Pioneer Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Lieutenant John Cecil Drury Reid, 4th Pioneer Battalion, AIF
DOW 10 June 1917
Photograph: H06659

Story delivered 27 June 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant John Cecil Drury Reid.

John Reid was born on 14 May 1876 in Eaglehawk, Victoria. He was one of seven children born to the Reverend John Bentley Reid and his wife, Sybil. One of John’s older brothers, the Reverend Stanley Reid, served with the 6th Western Australian Mounted Infantry during the Boer War, and died of his wounds in Middelburg on 23 June 1901.

John Reid’s father went to work on the Smith of Dunesk Mission in Beltana, South Australia, but left the mission in 1905 for family reasons. Reid was educated at Scotch College, and went on to gain a Bachelor of Civil Engineering at Melbourne University. He later became a licensed mining surveyor. In 1912 he married Jessie Philip; they had three children, the eldest named after his brother Stanley.

On the outbreak of war Reid was a licensed land surveyor working for the federal government in the new capital city, Canberra. He was 39 years old when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 22 February 1916; he had greying hair and spoke with slowly and deliberately.

As an experienced engineer and mining surveyor, Reid was posted to the No. 5 Tunnelling Company. He attended the engineer officers’ school of instruction in Sydney shortly after enlisting, after which he received his commission as second lieutenant. In October 1916 Reid transferred to the 4th Pioneer Battalion in France and was promoted to full lieutenant.

In June 1917 the 4th Pioneers were in the front line near Messines. On the afternoon of 7 June Reid was in charge of a reconnaissance party looking to establish a communication trench. They were in full view of the enemy and under heavy fire. The reconnaissance party located the route for the trench, and Reid returned with the party to start work that evening. The following evening he carried out the dangerous task in a different part of the front line. Two days later he took a party forward to undertake similar work, but this time he was wounded, shot in the head and taken to a field dressing station.

As his men carried him out of the front line on a stretcher, he was conscious, and those who saw him did not think him in much pain. Nevertheless, he died at the dressing station that night. For the fine example he set in establishing communication trenches in the most dangerous of situations, Reid was posthumously awarded the Military Cross. He was 41 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 other Australians who died during 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 Lieutenant John Cecil Drury Reid, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section