The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (N390088) Sergeant Peter Hough, 5 Base Ordnance Depot, Second 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 (N390088) Sergeant Peter Hough, 5 Base Ordnance Depot, Second World War.

N390088 Sergeant Peter Hough, 5 Base Ordnance Depot
Died 12 March 1944
Story delivered 3 March 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sergeant Peter Hough.

Peter Meehan Hough was born in 1891, one of six children of John and Henrietta Hough of the Sydney suburb of Paddington. After attending school, Hough worked as a bedstead maker and paraded with the 33rd Infantry Regiment in the Citizens Military Forces. He married Mary Ann Burns and became the father to Thelma.

In June 1917 he enlisted for service with the Australian Imperial Force. Hough fought on the Western Front as a rifleman with the 53rd Battalion, participating in the Battle of Amiens and the subsequent offensive between August and October 1918. After returning home to Australia, Hough and his family lived at Five Dock, where he worked for many years as a storeman at a nearby warehouse.

Hough enlisted in the army in the Second World War, volunteering for service in February 1942 just 12 days after the Fall of Singapore. Aged 50, and suffering from poor eyesight and the effects of gas from his time on the Western Front, Hough did not meet the recruiting standards for front-line service. But his skills and experience as a storeman were of interest to the army. He was made sergeant and posted to the 5th Australian Base Ordnance Depot at Moorebank, near the Holsworthy Army Camp, where supplies required for equipping and maintaining army units during training and combat operations were stored. As well as fulfilling a personal ambition to serve during wartime, Hough was posted near enough to return home to Five Dock and be with his wife at the end of the working day.

Hough was at home with his wife on the afternoon of 12 March 1944 when he suffered a heart seizure and died at the age of 52. He was buried at the Sydney War Cemetery on the grounds of the Rookwood Necropolis. The following epitaph, written by his grieving family, appears on his headstone: “Nobly he lived and nobly he died. Ever Remembered.”

Peter Hough’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second World War.

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

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section