The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3032) Lance Corporal George Eddy, 57th 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 Jana Johnson, the story for this day was on (3032) Lance Corporal George Eddy, 57th Battalion, First World War.

3032 Lance Corporal George Eddy, 57th Battalion
KIA 2 April 1917
Photograph: DA10581

Story delivered 22 April 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal George Eddy.

George Eddy was born around 1896 in Eaglehawk, near Bendigo, Victoria, to George and Mary Eddy. He attended the local state school, and went on to work as a bread carter for the Cooperative Bakery in nearby Ironbark. He was an active member of the local Methodist church and the Independent Order of Rechabites, a temperance movement. He also played for the local cricket club.

George Eddy enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915. He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas with reinforcements to the 8th Battalion the following September. He was first sent to Egypt, where the AIF was undergoing a period of reorganisation and expansion following the evacuation from Gallipoli. As part of this process he was transferred to the 57th Battalion. He continued training in the desert for some months before leaving to join the fighting in France in June 1916.

A short time after the 57th Battalion arrived on the Western Front it participated in an operation near the French village of Fromelles. Assigned a supporting role, it avoided the heavy casualties of other Australian battalions involved in the attack, and Private Eddy came through unscathed.

The 57th Battalion spent the harsh winter of 1916 and 1917 rotating in and out of the front line. Eddy spent a short period of time in England on leave, but was back with his battalion early in the new year when it participated in the advance that followed the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line.

Eddy was promoted to lance corporal in early March, and a month later was in the front line near the French village of Morchies. The 57th Battalion was again playing a supporting role as nearby Australian battalions attacked German positions. On the night of 1 April, the battalion sent out a small party of men to establish a post about 600 yards from their line. In the early hours of the morning, the group came under heavy machine-gun fire from two sides. Three men were killed and nine others were wounded.

Lance Corporal George Eddy was probably one of the three men killed on this operation. His mother, Mary Eddy, received a letter from the chaplain of the 57th Battalion that said that Eddy “was killed while holding a position with conspicuous bravery, and showing the most heroic example to his comrades”. The chaplain added, “I can assure you, Mrs Eddy, that your boy’s memory will ever be revered by his comrades, and the people here whom he came to save, and that his resting place will ever be respected by them.”

George Eddy was 21 years old.

He was buried nearby, but his grave was lost during later fighting. Today his name is listed on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux with more than 10,700 other Australians who died in France during the First World War and have no known grave.

His 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.

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

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section