The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (56918) Trooper Walter James Lewis, 11th Light Horse Regiment, 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (56918) Trooper Walter James Lewis, 11th Light Horse Regiment, First World War.

56918 Trooper Walter James Lewis, 11th Light Horse Regiment
KIA 25 September 1918
Story delivered 25 September 2018


Today we remember and pay tribute to Trooper Walter James Lewis.

Walter Lewis was born on 24 January 1899 to Nancy and Walter James Lewis senior at Petrie Terrace in Brisbane.

Growing up in the area, he attended Brisbane Central State School, after which he went to work as a stockman. Lewis also spent 18 months in a regional senior cadet unit.

Following the outbreak of the First World War, Lewis put his age up by two years in order to enlist for service in the AIF in Toowoomba at the beginning of November 1915. After his initial training, he was allotted to the 15th Reinforcements to the 2nd Light Horse Regiment, located at Chermside.

His service only lasted 11 weeks before his mother caught up with him. She sent the following letter to the officer commanding Chermside Camp at the beginning of January 1916:

I have a son named Walter James Lewis in the 15[th] Rein[forcements to the] 2[nd Light Horse] Reg[iment]. He enlisted without our consent. He is only 16 and he is far too young. I am writing to see if I can get his discharge. He enlisted without us knowing. I would let him go if he was a few years older but as he is now, he is only a boy. I would worry very much if he went away at his present age. So kindly see into it.

Lewis was brought before the commanding officer. After admitting he was only 16, he was discharged.

Chastened, but still determined to do his bit, Lewis went to work as a stud groom on Belle Vue Station in Northern Queensland.

He returned home in the early months of 1918 and on 6 April, this time with his mother’s consent, enlisted for the second time.

He was allotted to the 3rd Queensland General Service Reinforcements and embarked from Sydney aboard the transport ship Wiltshire, bound for Egypt.

Arriving in Egypt in mid-July, he spent a week sick in hospital, after which he was allotted to the 3rd reinforcements to the 11th Light Horse Regiment. Lewis joined his regiment in Palestine in early September.

Lewis found his unit busily preparing for a major offensive, which would become known as the battle of Megiddo. Like the rest of the Australian Mounted Division, the 11th Light Horse Regiment had been issued cavalry swords the previous month and Lewis was kept busy training and making preparations for action.

On 18 September, the 11th Light Horse Regiment moved to Jaffa, and in the early hours of the following morning, moved forward to its start line.

As the sun rose, a sense of impending victory must have rippled through the ranks. As the light horsemen moved to their start line, British infantrymen smashed a 12 km gap in the Ottoman lines on the Palestinian coast. At around 9 am, with two British cavalry divisions leading, the Australian Mounted Division began its advance.

Progress was rapid. Two days later, the 11th Light Horse Regiment reached Megiddo. Over the next three days, the 11th Light Horse Regiment advanced through Jenin, El Afule, to Beisan.

In the early hours of 25 September, the 11th Light Horse Regiment advanced on the town of Semakh, located at the southern end of the Sea of Gaililee. The town was the last Ottoman rail link into Palestine, which also led directly to Damascus. The town and railway station was held by a strong rear guard of Ottoman and German troops.

As Lewis and his comrades neared Semakh in the pre-dawn darkness, enemy machine-guns opened fire. Immediately, A and B Squadrons of the 11th Light Horse Regiment drew swords and charged. A number of men and horses were cut down during the charge after which, the Australians dismounted and continued the charge with sword and bayonet.

The men of the 11th faced an enemy in superior numbers, who were well dug in, but the ferocity of their attack forced their enemy back. The battle was fought at close range, room by room and even rail carriage by rail carriage, with no quarter asked or given.

The battle lasted around two hours before Semakh fell to the Australians. The cost to the 11th Light Horse Regiment was dear: 14 men had been killed and 37 wounded, two of whom would die from their wounds. Further loss was suffered by their horses, with 61 being killed and 37 wounded.

Amongst the dead was Trooper Walter Lewis, though the place and manner of his death was not recorded. Lewis was initially interred along with his dead comrades in the Semakh Military Cemetery, but their remains were later reinterred in the Haifa Military Cemetery. He was only 19 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 Trooper Walter James Lewis, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section