The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Captain John Butler Wood, 6th Field Artillery Brigade, 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on Captain John Butler Wood, 6th Field Artillery Brigade, AIF, First World War.

Captain John Butler Wood, 6th Field Artillery Brigade, AIF
KIA 15 March 1917
Story delivered 27 May 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Captain John Butler Wood.

John Wood was born in 1887, the eldest of four children of John and Louisa Wood of Grenfell in the New South Wales Central West. The Woods were well-known and respected pioneering family who grazed sheep and wheat in the Grenfell area at the turn of the century, but had settled at Milson’s Point in North Sydney in the decade before the war. After attending Sydney Church of England Grammar School and Hawkesbury Agricultural College, John worked as a clerk and indenter for a financial company in Sydney, and in the years before the war, was engaged to marry Miss Kathie Boyd of Kirribilli Point. He had been an artilleryman in the pre-war militia, and had attained the provisional rank of 1st lieutenant.

Wood enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in October 1915, and after applying for and being granted a commission, sailed for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the 5th Field Artillery Brigade in November 1915. By the time he arrived, the Gallipoli campaign had ended and the AIF was undergoing a period of reorganisation and training in preparation for its departure for the Western Front. As part of this, Wood was transferred to the newly-formed 22nd Howitzer Brigade and posted to the 106th Battery, which operated 4.5-inch Howitzers.

After sailing for France in March 1916, Wood spent several weeks in the relatively quiet “nursery” sector near the town of Armentieres. Here he was transferred to the 6th Field Artillery Brigade, taking command of a gun team operating an 18-pound field gun. The brigade then moved south to take part in the British offensive raging on the Somme. Wood’s unit was instrumental in laying down bombardments of high-explosive and shrapnel on the German lines to cut barbed wire engagements and suppress fortifications before and during infantry assaults. The artillery also suppressed German artillery positions to prevent devastating shell-fire from falling onto Australian positions.

Over the following weeks, the 6th Field Artillery Brigade fired in support of Australian operations on the Somme in the bitter fighting at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm. In October, after the Australians had been relieved from the line and gone north into Belgium for a period of rest, Wood was transferred to the 4th Field Artillery Brigade and given experience in commanding the 104th Howitzer Battery. He clearly excelled as a gun team commander and was being given opportunities to further his career within the AIF. In November, after the Australians returned to the Somme, he was given temporary command of a detachment within the 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column before returning to 6th Field Artillery Brigade to command 106th Battery. After a short period of leave in England in January 1917, Wood was promoted to captain and was assigned to the 5th Field Artillery Brigade where he was given temporary command of 15th Battery.

After spending the winter months holding trenches in between the villages of Flers and Gueudecourt, German troops abandoned their defences in late February, withdrawing to newly built defences further to the west. As the Australians followed the German withdrawal, the gunners of the field artillery brigades began the process of moving their gun positions and limbers to support the advancing infantry. By March 1917, the Australians were on the outskirts of the German-occupied town of Bapaume.

The 5th Field Artillery Brigade had advanced astride the Albert-Bapaume road and provided supporting bombardments against German strongpoints which remained behind to delay the Australian advance. On 12 March 1917, Wood and a fellow officer moved forward to observe and register the fall of rounds on the German positions when they were spotted by German troops who subjected the area to shell-fire. The officer with Wood at the time later wrote:
we lay down behind some wire and [the Germans] stopped. We commenced our registry again and they opened up on us a second time, and this time it became so hot that [Captain] Wood and myself with our telephonists all got into a shell hole but the Boshe kept on firing.

In order to escape the bombardment, a decision was made to evacuate the relative safety of the shell-hole. As the men were preparing to make a run for new shelter, a German shell exploded on the lip of the crater. John Wood was killed instantly; several others were seriously wounded. Aged 29 at the time of his death, Wood was buried that night at the nearby cemetery at Bazentin-le-Petit, where he rests today. A small epitaph penned by his grieving mother appears on his headstone: “Greater Love Hath No Man”.

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 Captain John Butler Wood, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section