The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4186) Private Robert Harold Smith, 48th 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 Michael Kelly, the story for this day was on (4186) Private Robert Harold Smith, 48th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

4186 Private Robert Harold Smith, 48th Battalion, AIF
KIA 12 August 1916

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Robert Harold Smith.

Robert Harold Smith was born in 1896, one of eight children born to Robert and Phoebe Smith of Solomontown, a suburb of Port Pirie on the Spencer Gulf in South Australia. His father worked on the waterfront, and later in the Pirie smelters. Robert attended the local school and afterwards worked as a fruit hawker in the local area. He also paraded with the senior cadets, before being discharged on medical grounds.

When Smith first tried enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force in 1915, he was deemed medically unfit and turned away. In an effort to maintain reinforcement quotas in the face of mounting casualties in the fighting on Gallipoli, the recruiting standards were relaxed mid-way through the year – which allowed Smith to enlist successfully in August 1915. After several months of training in Adelaide, in January 1916 he sailed for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the 16th Battalion.

By the time Smith arrived in Egypt, the Australian Imperial Force had evacuated from Gallipoli and was undergoing a major restructure before embarking for France. As part of the “doubling-up” of the AIF, Smith was transferred to the newly-raised 48th Battalion which formed part of the 4th Division that sailed for France in March 1916. The battalion spent several weeks in the relatively quiet sector of the front line near the town of Armentières on the Franco-Belgian border, patrolling no man’s land at night and conducting raids on the German trenches. In May, Smith would have received the news that his father had unexpectedly passed away in April, leaving his widowed mother and five siblings solely dependent on his army pay.

In July, the 4th Division transferred to the Somme, where it participated in the bitter fighting for Pozières. On 7 August, just as the division entered the front line, it thwarted a German counter-attack. After a brief spell behind the lines, Smith and his battalion again entered the front line on 12 August and occupied the area known as the Windmill. Severely understrength after the fighting of the previous days, the battalion was subjected to German shell-fire as the men did what they could to improve their defensive positions.

When the battalion was relieved three days later, it had suffered 118 casualties, including Private Robert Smith, who is believed to have been killed during the German bombardment on 12 August. Aged just 19 when he died, Robert’s body was never recovered from the battlefield. Today he is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux alongside more than 10,000 Australians killed in France who have no known grave.

After learning of the death of her son, Robert’s mother wrote the following epitaph to appear in the local newspaper:
Somewhere in France there is a treasured spot,
Where our son and brother is laid to rest.
But he proudly did his best.

Robert Smith’s 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.

We now remember Private Robert Harold Smith, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section