The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (634) Private Bertie Hardman, 40th 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 Ricahrd Cruise, the story for this day was on (634) Private Bertie Hardman, 40th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

634 Private Bertie Hardman, 40th Battalion, AIF
Died of illness 3 February 1918

Story delivered 20 December 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Bertie Hardman.

Bertie Hardman was born in 1897, one of ten children of Tasman and Isabella Hardman of the Tasmanian town of Brighton, just north of Hobart. After attending the local state school, Bertie worked as a farmer and labourer.

Both of Bertie’s older brothers – Roy and Harry – enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in 1914 and served in the Dardanelles. Roy was mortally wounded a week after landing at Anzac and was buried at sea. By the time Bertie enlisted in January 1917, the war had ceased to be viewed as a great adventure. We don’t if Bertie’s father was reluctant about his youngest son’s decision to go off to the war, but Bertie was then several months shy of his 21st birthday and no longer needed parental consent to enlist.

After several months training at Seymour Military Camp on the east coast of Tasmania, Bertie Hardman sailed for Melbourne, then to England with a reinforcement group for the 10th Machine Gun Company. He underwent further training on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, and then sailed for France in late December 1917. Once there, he transferred to the 40th Battalion as it recouped its losses after the costly Third Ypres campaign, joining it in the relatively quiet Messines sector in Belgium the following month.

Bertie Hardman arrived on the Western Front at a time when both sides had largely suspended operations before the onset of winter. The men of the 40th Battalion busied themselves with training and football matches, but conditions in the area were sodden due to evening snowfall thawing during the day and turning the low-lying area into a morass. Roads and trenches were constantly wet and slushy, and fogs lingered throughout the day.

No sooner had he arrived with the battalion than Hardman was evacuated to the 7th General Hospital suffering from a severe case of measles and a case of broncho-pneumonia. His conditioned worsened, and he died of illness a week later. He was buried at the nearby Longuenesse Souvenir Cemetery. The Hardman family had lost two sons to the war, and struggled to deal with their loss. A small epitaph appeared in a local newspaper a year after Bertie’s death that read: “Someday, some time, we’ll understand”.

Bertie Hardman was 21 years old.

Bertie Hardman is listed on the Roll of Honour on your left, 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 Bertie Hardman, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section