The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2750) Private Clarence Roy Whittle, 56th Battalion, 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 Joanne Smedley, the story for this day was on (2750) Private Clarence Roy Whittle, 56th Battalion, First World War.

Private Clarence Roy Whittle, 56th Battalion
KIA 14 May 1917
Photograph: P05921.001

Story delivered 5 June 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Clarence Roy Whittle, who was killed while fighting in France during the First World War.

Clarence Whittle was born in 1894, the eldest of nine children of Percy and Annie Whittle of Goulburn, New South Wales. Known to his family and friends as Roy, he attended St Patrick’s School and afterwards completed an apprenticeship at W.J. Lemon. In the years before the war he worked with his father as a plumber at Kenmore Hospital.

Whittle enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in June 1916, and after a period of training embarked for England with a reinforcement group for the 56th Battalion. His younger brother Sid enlisted a week after, and the brothers trained and sailed together as part of the same reinforcement group. After further training on the Salisbury Plain in England, the Whittles sailed for France, where they joined the 56th Battalion in the line near Gueudecourt in February 1917.

Not long after this the Germans abandoned their Somme defences, and for several weeks the 56th Battalion participated in following up on the German withdrawal. The Whittle brothers fought their first major action at the outpost village of Louverval in April. In a letter home in April, Roy Whittle described how his platoon commander had officer separated the brothers so that, according to Roy, “one would not see the other get knocked”.

The allied advance soon ended as the Australians approached the village of Bullecourt. Here the advancing columns came up against the formidable German defensive network known as the Hindenburg Line – a seemingly impenetrable network of trenches protected by thick belts of barbed wire, machine-guns and artillery. The first attempt made by Australian troops to breach the line at Bullecourt was both costly and unsuccessful. A second attempt was waged in early May, when the Australians succeeded in getting a toehold in the German defences.

Battalions of the 5th Division rotated in and out of the line throughout May in the effort to capture and hold the village of Bullecourt. On 14 May the 56th was sent to relieve beleaguered troops of the 55th Battalion from the heavy bombardment at the front line. German artillery pounded the Australian positions as the relief took place early that morning and persisted throughout the rest of the day, resulting in seven men killed and a further 36 wounded.

Among the dead was Roy Whittle, who was just 23 years old. His body was never recovered from the battlefield, and as such his name is listed on the Memorial to the Missing at Villers-Bretonneux, alongside 10,700 Australians killed in France who have no known grave.

Private Whittle’s name is also listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This just one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Clarence Roy Whittle, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Paul Taylor
With Aaron Pegram