The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (893) Lance Corporal James Osmond, 42nd 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 Meredith Duncan, the story for this day was on (893) Lance Corporal James Osmond, 42nd Battalion, AIF, First World War.

893 Lance Corporal James Osmond, 42nd Battalion, AIF
KIA 25 August 1918
Photograph: P10614.001

Story delivered 13 July 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal James Charles Edward Osmond, who was killed fighting in France during the First World War.

James Osmond was born in 1897, one of seven children of George and Sarah Osmond of the small town of Woodford in south-east Queensland. After attending Woodford State School he became an active member of the Stanley River Rifle Club and worked as a milk and cream tester at a local dairy factory.

Osmond enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in Brisbane in November 1915, just one month after his 18th birthday. He spent several months training before embarking for England as an original member of the 42nd Battalion in June 1916. He trained for some months on the Salisbury Plains in Wiltshire before sailing for France five months later.

The 42nd Battalion entered the trenches of the Western Front for the first time in the relatively quiet sector near the town of Armentières, and spent the following months patrolling no man’s land and conducting trench raids. That winter was the coldest Europe had experienced in decades. Disease was rife in the waterlogged trenches and Osmond was evacuated with mumps to a field hospital at St Omer in January 1917. Soon after his return he was evacuated again with scabies and a condition known at the time as “trench fever” – a serious skin disease common in the trenches of the Western Front.

It took more than six months for Osmond to be declared medically fit to return to France. By this time the 42nd Battalion was in resting in the now-quiet Messines sector, recovering from the heavy losses sustained during the Third Battle of Ypres.

In March 1918 Russia’s withdrawal from the war freed the German army to transfer millions of troops westwards to deliver a decisive blow against the British and French. This Spring Offensive succeeded in breaking the deadlock of trench warfare and threatened to split the British and French armies on the Somme River. Australian troops were rushed south to defend the city of Amiens, with the 42nd Battalion defending the high ground along the northern bank of the Somme River at Sailly-le Sec.

The German offensive was halted, and in July Osmond participated in the fighting at Hamel, which put the British army in a position to launch its own counter-offensive, beginning at Amiens on 8 August – the famed “Black Day” of the German army. Now a lance corporal, Osmond participated in the advance that followed. By the end of August the allies had and captured Bray-Sur-Somme and were probing the enemy defences for weaknesses as the German line started to crumble.

On 25 August 1918 Osmond’s platoon was among two companies of 42nd Battalion sent to reconnoitre the German positions near Ceylon Wood. During this patrol Osmond was killed by an exploding shell as German artillery bombarded their position. Aged just 21, he was buried nearby, and was later reinterred at Bonfray Farm Military Cemetery at Bray-Sur-Somme.

James Osmond’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 others from the First World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is just one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lance Corporal Edward Osmond, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section