The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3914) Private Walter Alwyn Skey, 9th 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (3914) Private Walter Alwyn Skey, 9th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

3914 Private Walter Alwyn Skey, 9th Battalion, AIF
Died of wounds 4 July 1916

Story delivered 4 July 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Walter Alwyn Skey.

Walter Alwyn Skey was born on 22 November 1894 in Kars Springs, New South Wales, to Thomas and Esther Skey. He attended Upper Wybong Public School, and by the time the First World War began, was working as a labourer in Queensland.

Skey enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in Toowoomba on 10 August 1915. After his initial training, he was allotted to reinforcements to the 9th Battalion, and on 30 October he embarked from Brisbane aboard the transport ship Itonus, bound for Egypt.

After training in Egypt, the 9th Battalion sailed for France. It was first sent to the the “nursery sector” around Armentières where newly arrived troops were introduced to trench warfare. In June, a raiding party was organised by Captain Maurice Wilder Neligan for an attack on German positions at the Sugarloaf. Skey was one of those who volunteered for the raid.

Training was constant in the weeks leading up to the raid and nightly patrols in no–man’s land were conducted to familiarise the men with the ground at night.

Towards midnight on 1 July, the raiders, split into three parties, set out. Skey was amongst the bayonet men in the centre party and soon after entering the German forward trench was badly wounded in the legs, most likely by a German grenade.

The raid lasted a matter of minutes and when the signal to retire was given, the Australians withdrew. Attempts were made to bring out the
wounded, but the German counter–attack drove the Australians back, forcing them to leave several of their men, including Skey.

Skey’s fate is unclear, but as he was not listed as a prisoner of war in Germany, a court of enquiry later found him to have been killed in action in the early hours of 2 July. He was 22 years old.

His body was never recovered and today his name was appears on the Australian National Memorial at Villers–Bretonneux, which commemorates over 10,000 Australian soldiers who fought in France and Belgium who 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 Private Walter Alwyn Skey, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section