The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (5338) Private Ronald Norvel “Norrie’ Douglas, 17th 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 (5338) Private Ronald Norvel “Norrie’ Douglas, 17th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

5338 Private Ronald Norvel “Norrie’ Douglas, 17th Battalion, AIF
KIA 15 August, 1917
Photograph: P07106.003 (left)

Story delivered 23 May 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Ronald Norvel Douglas.

Ronald Douglas was born on 19 June 1889 in Muttama, New South Wales, to William and Jane Douglas. He was the fourth of eight children, and grew up in Muttama and attended the local public school. Later he went to work farming on his father’s property. His father died after a short battle with cancer in November 1912, leaving his four boys to maintain the farm.

Douglas enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Cootamundra on 13 March 1916 and began his initial training at the local depot. His older brother William enlisted the following month. Douglas was transferred to Liverpool camp, where he was allotted to the 14th reinforcements to the 17th Battalion.

Douglas celebrated his 27th birthday at Manly Beach and began his final week’s leave the following day. He embarked aboard the transport ship Wiltshire, but did not reach England until October. Having been ill for much of the trip, he was taken to hospital at Plymouth with the mumps.

Douglas managed to meet up with William in December, and he remarked in his diary that his brother looked in “tip top shape”. He sailed for France two days later and joined the 17th Battalion in the field.

The battalion spent a miserable Christmas moving between Trones Wood and Delville Wood. Douglas was particularly unhappy about the poor quality and quantity of food being served. He attended a bombing course over the last days of December and had the last day of the year off.

When the Germans withdrew to the Hindenburg Line in February, the 17th Battalion was one of the many allied units involved in the pursuit. Douglas wrote a brief but lively account of the advance, including on the capture of Bapaume, where he had joined the Lewis gun section.

After a period of relative quiet, the battalion returned to the front lines at Lagnicourt in April. In the early hours of 15 April the Germans launched a counter-attack, forcing the Australians to retire. At 6 am the Australians launched a counter-attack of their own, recapturing the lost ground. At some point during the battle Douglas was killed, and he was buried near Lagnicourt. His remains could not be identified after the war and his name was added to the Memorial to the Missing at Villers-Bretonneux. He was 27 years old.

William Douglas was wounded twice during his service and returned to Australia in 1919.

Private Ronald Douglas’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection. Douglas is standing on the left, his brother on the right.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Ronald Norvel Douglas, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section