The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (94) Private James Robert Waddell, 18th 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 (94) Private James Robert Waddell, 18th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

94 Private James Robert Waddell, 18th Battalion, AIF
DOW 1 September 1915

Story delivered 5 November 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private James Robert Waddell.

Known to his family as “Sonnie”, James Waddell was born in 1890, the fourth of eleven children, and the first son, born to Robert and Mary Waddell of Balmain North, Sydney.

The young James Waddell attended the Nicholson Street School in Balmain, and was a member of the local cadets for several years. He went on to work as a shipping clerk for Birt and Company.

In 1915 while James Waddell was out one day he was given a white feather, a symbol of cowardice given to young men by activists who wished to humiliate those they thought should enlist. In James’s case this tactic worked. Although he had not originally intended to serve, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in April 1915.

A month after James enlisted, his father died. Another month after that, James Waddell left Sydney on the troopship Ceramic, bound for Egypt.

Private Waddell was posted to A Company of the 18th Battalion, and served as bugler for his platoon. After a short period of training in Egypt, he arrived on Gallipoli with his battalion on 22 August 1915.

The 18th Battalion had been ashore less than a day before being committed to the last operation of the August Offensive. Attacking a Turkish position known as Hill 60m, the battalion suffered as much as half of its strength killed, wounded, or missing.

One of those missing after the battle was Private James Waddell. Enquiries determined that he had been wounded during the battle and evacuated with gunshot wounds to the abdomen and back. He died on board the hospital ship Hunts Green on 1 September 1915, en route to England.

In Australia his grieving family put several notices in the Sydney Morning Herald to mark his passing. His mother and siblings wrote the following:
He answered the call of his country,
And the voice of the cable tells
How a Balmain lad in a khaki suit
Fell at the Dardanelles.

Private James Waddell was buried at sea, aged 25.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 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 James Robert Waddell, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section