The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (521) Lance Corporal Clement Claude Carman, 27th Battalion, First World War.

Place Europe: France, Picardie, Somme, Albert Bapaume Area, Flers
Accession Number PAFU2015/473.01
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 23 November 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on (521) Lance Corporal Clement Claude Carman, 27th Battalion, First World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

521 Lance Corporal Clement Claude Carman, 27th Battalion
KIA 5 November 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 23 November 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal Clement Claude Carman.

Clement Carman was born in Port Broughton, South Australia, the second son of David and Elizabeth Carman. He was educated at the Keilli and Ward’s Hill public schools, and went on to work as a farmer. He was also an active member of the Ward’s Hill Methodist Church, where he was a preacher on trial and a promising future worker in the church.

Carman enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in February 1915 and was posted to the 27th Battalion. After a brief period of training in Australia he was sent to Egypt, and from there to Gallipoli. He arrived after the major offensives were over, and stayed four months before leaving with the evacuation of Anzac forces in December.

In 1916 Carman’s older brother, Roland, enlisted, joining the 10th Battalion, followed by his younger brother David, who joined the 50th Battalion. Clement Carman spent a short period on leave in England before joining his battalion on the Western Front in June 1916. The following August he was promoted to lance corporal.

On 5 November 1916 the 27th Battalion attacked a German trench known as Bayonet Trench near the French village of Flers. They were able to hold part of the trench for no more than an hour and a half before being forced back to their own lines. The battalion suffered nearly 300 casualties, including 75 men who were posted as missing.

One of those missing was Lance Corporal Carman. There were rumours that he might have been taken prisoner by the Germans, but as time went on it became clear that this was not true. Eventually, a court of inquiry determined that he had been killed in action on 5 November 1916. His body was never recovered. Clement Carman was 21 years old.

Of the three Carman sons who went to war, none returned. Roland Carman was killed in action in the fighting around the Hindenburg Line in April 1917, and a year later David Carman was killed in a counter-attack at Villers-Bretonneux. In a memorial notice the family called this: “our sacrifice on the altar of freedom”.

The names of Clement, Roland, and David Carman are listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died during 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 Lance Corporal Clement Claude Carman, his brothers Privates Roland Clarence Carman and David William Carman, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section

  • Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (521) Lance Corporal Clement Claude Carman, 27th Battalion, First World War. (video)