The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2209) Private Alfred Stanley Morrow, 19th 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 Chris Widenbar, the story for this day was on (2209) Private Alfred Stanley Morrow, 19th Battalion, First World War.

2209 Private Alfred Stanley Morrow, 19th Battalion
KIA 27 March 1918
Story delivered 21 September 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Alfred Stanley Morrow.

Alfred Morrow was born in 1891, the son of John and Matilda Morrow of Nana Glen near Grafton in northern New South Wales. Known to family and friends as “Stan”, he attended Nana Glen Primary School before starting work in the local sawmill. When his father died in 1909, Stan and his three brothers were left to provide for the family.

Morrow had previously tried to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force but had been turned down because of defective teeth. In February 1916 he travelled to Bathurst, where he was successful in volunteering for active service. After a period of training, he embarked for England with a reinforcement group for the 19th Battalion. After further training on Salisbury Plain, he sailed for France in December 1916. By then, Morrow was the third of four Morrow brothers to serve in the First World War.

He joined the 19th Battalion in the line near the villages of Flers and Gueudecourt on the Somme in one of the coldest winters on record. By then, the battle of the Somme had ended. British and German troops had hunkered down and were holding their positions over winter. At Flers, the mud, rain, and frostbite were far greater enemies than the German Army. A month after arriving, Morrow was suffering from a severe case of trench foot; he was evacuated to England, where he underwent a lengthy period of rest and recovery.

His condition was so severe that Morrow did not return to the Western Front until September 1917, when Australian troops were fighting in the third battle of Ypres. The 19th Battalion participated in costly fighting at Menin Road and Broodseinde, and afterwards held positions along the Westhoek Ridge before the fighting ended with the onset of winter. Not long after the 19th Battalion was relieved from the line in December, Morrow was admitted to hospital suffering from scabies, before returning to the front in January 1918.

After the fighting at Ypres, the Australians moved south to the relatively quiet Messines sector near the town of Warneton where they occupied defences over the following winter. Although it was a period of operational hiatus, the Germans routinely shelled the Australian positions and conducted trench raids. On the evening of 27 March 1918, the Germans carried out a raid on a listening post occupied by Morrow and members of his platoon. After a short bombardment, the Germans fired a few rounds at the men in the post before they were met with rifle and machine-gun fire and ultimately driven off.

Defending their post that night cost the 19th Battalion two casualties. One of them was Morrow, then aged 26, who was shot dead in the opening volleys of the skirmish. Morrow was buried near where he fell, but his body was never recovered from the Warneton battlefield. His name appears on the Menin Gate Memorial at nearby Ieper among the 6,187 Australians killed in Belgium who have no known grave.

Stan Morrow’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.

His is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Alfred Stanley Morrow, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section