The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4840) Lance Corporal Laurence Leslie Maguire, 45th 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 Dennis Stockman, the story for this day was on (4840) Lance Corporal Laurence Leslie Maguire, 45th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

4840 Lance Corporal Laurence Leslie Maguire, 45th Battalion, AIF
KIA 2 April 1918
Story delivered 2 April 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal Laurence Leslie Maguire.

Laurence Maguire was born in 1890 in Coonamble, New South Wales. The son of Richard and Charlotte Maguire, both from well-known families in the Gilgandra district, he grew up in the area, where his father leased land and held the mail contract for a number of years. After attending school at Curban, he went on to work as a labourer in the district.

Maguire enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in October 1915 and was posted to the 13th Battalion. He underwent a brief period of training in Australia before being sent to Egypt. There the AIF, having recently arrived back from Gallipoli, was undergoing a period of reorganisation and training. As a part of this process, Maguire was transferred to the 45th Battalion, and in June departed for service on the Western Front in France.

The 45th Battalion played a minor role in the heavy fighting around Pozieres and Mouquet Farm in August 1916. The following November, Maguire suffered burns to his feet and had to be sent to hospital in England to recover. He ended up spending most of 1917 in England in various roles, including more than two months in hospital with illness. He finally returned to his battalion in France in September 1917. Two months later he was promoted to lance corporal.

In April 1918 the 45th Battalion were near the front lines around the French village of Dernancourt, prepared to rush into action in the event of a German attack. Two days before the attack came, Lance Corporal Maguire was killed in action. Little is known of the manner of his death. There is some evidence that he was buried near the French town of Albert, but after the war his grave could not be located. Today Lance Corporal Maguire is commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at Villers-Bretonneux. He was 28 years old.

His 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 Lance Corporal Laurence Leslie Maguire, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section