The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Captain Roger Forrest Hughes, 1st Australian Field Ambulance, 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 Captain Roger Forrest Hughes, 1st Australian Field Ambulance, AIF, First World War.

Captain Roger Forrest Hughes, 1st Australian Field Ambulance, AIF
DOW 12 December 1916
Photograph: P08188.001

Story delivered 11 December 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Captain Roger Forrest Hughes.

Roger Forrest Hughes was born on May 1890 to Thomas and Louisa Hughes of Sydney. His father was a prominent solicitor who became Lord Mayor of Sydney in 1903. He had one brother, Geoffrey, who was five years younger than him. Roger was educated at St Ignatius’ College in Riverview, where he proved an excellent student. He took particular interest in the classics and language studies, and won medals for Latin and Greek. Following his college education Hughes studied arts and medicine, graduating from university with a Bachelor of Science. He completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Master of Surgery in 1915. Around Easter the following year he married Eileen Maher.

After becoming a doctor Hughes worked as the medical officer at St Vincent’s Hospital. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force shortly after his marriage in March 1916. He went on to join the staff of the No. 4 Military Hospital, and later served at Liverpool and the Warren. In August 1916 he was sent to England with the 1st Field Ambulance. On his arrival to England he contracted the measles and spent some time in hospital.

Captain Hughes’s brother Geoffrey was also serving in the war. He had travelled to the United Kingdom and enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in early 1916. By the time Roger reached the battlefields of northern France in early December 1916 Geoffrey was a commissioned pilot serving with No. 10 Squadron.

On 11 December 1916, just one week after joining his unit at the front, Roger Hughes was in the front line near the French village of Gueudecourt when he was struck by an artillery shell and severely
wounded. He was taken to a nearby casualty clearing station with serious compound fractures in both legs. His brother Geoffrey was not far away and somehow heard of Roger’s condition. He rushed to Roger’s side, and was with him when he died the following day. Roger Hughes was 26 years old.

In early 1917 Hughes’s son, named in his honour, was born. Roger’s widow, Eileen, never remarried, and lost her only son during the Second World War.

The name of Roger Forrest Hughes is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 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 Captain Roger Forrest Hughes, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section