The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (661) Staff Sergeant Harry Laughlan Bowser, 2nd Light Horse Brigade, AIF, First World War.

Place Asia: Turkey, Canakkale Province, Gallipoli
Accession Number PAFU2015/510.01
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 December 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (661) Staff Sergeant Harry Laughlan Bowser, 2nd Light Horse Brigade, AIF, First World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

661 Staff Sergeant Harry Laughlan Bowser, 2nd Light Horse Brigade, AIF
DOW 19 December 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 20 December 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Staff Sergeant Harry Laughlan Bowser.

Harry Bowser was born in 1890 to Lachlan and Edith Bowser of Sydney. He attended school locally, and went on to study at Petersham High School, later becoming an accountant. His father died in December 1904, and his mother married William Browne two years later.

Bowser worked for Bardsley and Co. in Sydney. His great love was the Young Men’s Christian Association, and he was an active member of the Sydney YMCA. It was reported that “the active part he always took in the various clubs of the association won for him the popularity in which he was held by his fellow-members”.

Bowser enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in October 1914 and was posted to the 2nd Light Horse Brigade. He underwent a brief period of training in Australia before leaving for service overseas. On board his troopship he was granted permission to serve as the YMCA representative, and a number of people later paid tribute to him for this work.

The light horse units did not participate in the dawn landings on Gallipoli, but were called on to reinforce the infantry there in the weeks afterwards. Bowser described Gallipoli in a letter to his mother in July 1915:

Picture men scaling heights like those of the Blue Mountains, hardly able to fire a shot, and with the tops of the hills lined with Turks … and you have a slight idea of that fierce bayonet charge made by our brave friends of the infantry … Holding the position appears to be the task set now, and there is very little fear of not doing this, as it has been turned into a
fortress, and the safest place around the district is in the trenches. The whole place is subjected to shrapnel, the stray bullets and the sniper, but still the men get about as though far removed from these agencies of death.

Shortly after his arrival on the peninsula Trooper Bowser was seconded to the 1st Division headquarters staff, where he served in the all-important postal service. He served with diligence and was promoted twice, becoming a sergeant in late August 1915 and staff sergeant that November.

In December 1915 the AIF was quietly evacuated from Gallipoli. The evacuation is famous for its lack of casualties; however, in the days or hours before the 2nd Light Horse Brigade left the peninsula Bowser suffered gunshot wounds to the abdomen and chest. He was evacuated from the beach but died of his wounds on board the ship on 19 December 1915, 11 years – to the day – after his father died. Staff Sergeant Harry Bowser was buried at sea between Anzac and Mudros Harbour. He was 25 years old.

In Australia his family commemorated his service with a notice in the Sydney Morning Herald. It read:

Duty called; the call was not in vain,
On Australia’s roll of honour
You will find our hero’s name.

His name is indeed listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died while serving in 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 Staff Sergeant Harry Laughlin Bowser, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section

  • Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (661) Staff Sergeant Harry Laughlan Bowser, 2nd Light Horse Brigade, AIF, First World War. (video)