The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (5408) Private William Charles Kew, 56th 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 , the story for this day was on

5408 Private William Charles Kew, 56th Battalion, AIF
KIA 3 April 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 21 June 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private William Charles Kew.

William Kew, known as “Bill”, was born in 1897 to John and Barbara Kew of Strathfield, New South Wales. He grew up in Strathfield and attended the local public school. He served four years in the senior cadets and went on to enlist in the Citizens’ Military Forces based at Moore Park, where he was a member of the engineers’ section. Kew also carried out a three-year apprenticeship with a firm in Burwood, becoming a fibre plasterer.

Kew enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in January 1916. He underwent a short period of training in Australia with the 4th Battalion before being sent to Egypt. There he was transferred to the 56th Battalion, arriving in Marseilles in June 1916 on his way to the Western Front.

Private Kew joined the 56th Battalion in the field, one of hundreds of reinforcements required by the battalion in the wake of the casualties suffered at the battle of Fromelles just a week earlier. The 56th Battalion continued to operate in and near the front line in the Fleurbaix sector for several weeks.

Later in the year the battalion moved to the Somme, and spent the severe winter of 1916–17 rotating in and out of the front line, sometimes in snow and sometimes in mud so severe that many were evacuated with exhaustion. Private Kew attended bombing school in December but otherwise remained with his battalion, coming through the winter without illness.

In April 1917, following the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, the 56th Battalion was called on to attack the French village of Louverval. The operation was largely successful, but in the process the battalion suffered more than 200 casualties. One of those unaccounted for at the end of the battle was Private William Kew.

An investigation into Kew’s fate found that after the operation began he had advanced into no man’s land. About half a mile later he was in a shell hole with two other men, and as they waited for a lull in the fire an artillery shell landed directly on their position, killing all three instantly. Kew’s body was buried nearby. After the war his body was recovered from his battlefield grave and re-interred in the Ontario British Cemetery near Sains-lés-Marquion in France. He was 19 years old.

His name 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 Private William Charles Kew, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section