The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (237) Private Rudolph Oswald Louis Ey, 2nd Australian Machine Gun Battalion, 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (237) Private Rudolph Oswald Louis Ey, 2nd Australian Machine Gun Battalion, First World War.

237 Private Rudolph Oswald Louis Ey, 2nd Australian Machine Gun Battalion
KIA 9 August 1918
Story delivered 7 March 2018

Today, we remember and pay tribute to Private Rudolph Oswald Louis Ey.

Rudolf Ey, known as Rudy, was born in Brim, Victoria, in 1897 to Louis and Ernestina Ey. He was one of two children born to Louis’ second marriage. Rudy grew up in Dimboola, where his father worked as a saddler. He attended the Dimboola Village Settlement state school and then followed his father in becoming a saddler. His mother Ernestina had suffered serious illnesses during Rudy’s childhood, and died in 1915 when Rudy was 18 years old, and his sister 13.

A year after his mother died, Rudolf Ey enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force with two of his mates, Charlie and Wally Dalitz. During training, the three transferred to reinforcements to machine-gun companies, leaving Australia together on the 4th of May 1916 on board the troopship Port Lincoln.

Private Ey first went to Egypt before travelling to England, where he continued training on the Salisbury Plain. In December 1916 he and his mates were posted to the 6th Australian Machine Gun Company and sent to France to fight on the Western Front. In May 1917, after spending the bitterly cold winter of 1916–17 in the trenches, they participated in heavy fighting around the French village of Bullecourt. On the 3rd of May 1917, Private Wally Dalitz was killed in action.

In late 1917 Private Ey was granted leave to go to England. However, while he was there he fell ill and was sent to hospital in Bulford. He took some time to recover, and then spent some months in England on training courses. In June 1918 he was transferred to the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, and in late July was sent to join them on the Western Front.
On the 8th of August 1918, just days after Private Ey joined the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion in the field, they participated in the Battle of Amiens. An astonishing success, this operation advanced the line several miles, and was later called the “Black Day of the German Army” by the German general Erich Ludendorff.

Private Ey began the operation as a number one on a Lewis Gun team. Over the course of the day, he and his team followed the advance, and by 9 August they were in a captured dugout near an old German hospital. While the dugout provided some cover, it could not protect the men inside from a direct hit. At around 2 am, a 5.9-inch shell struck the roof of the dugout, smashing it in. Although rescuers dug frantically to reach those inside, it took 15 minutes to reach Private Ey. They discovered that his left leg had been mutilated in the blast and he had bled to death.

Lieutenant Reg Callister wrote to Louis Ey in Dimboola to tell him how his son died. He added, “He was a quiet, unassuming, unselfish lad, and was a great favourite with us all. He was a spending, intelligent and always cheerful worker … I find this hard to write, but this war has made many such letters of hard tidings necessary.”

In Australia it was reported that “Rudy was beloved by all, and his death is deeply deplored by the townspeople [of Dimboola]. He was a splendid type of soldier, and had seen considerable service … on receipt of the sad intelligence, flags were flown at half-mast in the town as a mark of respect and esteem.”

Rudolf Ey was 21 years old.

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 Rudolph Oswald Louis Ey, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section