The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1600) Private William Smith, 9th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery, 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 (1600) Private William Smith, 9th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery, First World War.

1600 Private William Smith, 9th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery
KIA 25 February 1917
Story delivered 15 November 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private William Smith.

William Smith was born in Warialda, New South Wales, in 1879 to Peter and Amelia Smith. His father had been born in Holland and spent most of his life on the sea, coming to Australia when he was over 40 and marrying Amelia the following year. The Smith family lived in the northern districts of New South Wales, where Peter was engaged on various properties. William Smith probably grew up on these properties, and did not attend school. Around the turn of the century he had a property on Mosquito Creek, and in 1906 his father came to live with him.

William Smith enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in January 1916. He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas with reinforcements to the 33rd Battalion the following May. He first went to England, where he undertook a training course in trench mortars. Around September 1916 he transferred to the 9th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery, and left for the Western Front in late November.

The men of the light trench mortars spent the bitterly cold winter of 1916 and 1917 rotating in and out of the front line, building and maintaining trench mortar positions and looking after their equipment.

In February 1917 the men 9th Light Trench Mortar Battery were in the front line near the French town of Armentieres. On 25 February they came under a German artillery bombardment. Private Smith was holding a shell for his gun when it became live unexpectedly. He shouted to the men near him to take cover and threw the shell away. As he dashed to cover himself he slipped in the trench, and the shell exploded before he could get up again. He was killed instantly.

Private William Smith was buried in Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery in Armentieres, not far from where his father was born in Holland. Today he lies under the words “to live in hearts we leave behind is not to die: gone but not forgotten.” He was 38 years old.

In Australia, one of his best mates in the Warialda District, Ernest McCumstie, published a memorial notices for William Smith as the first anniversary of his death approached. It read in part:
In loving memory of our hero friend
Beloved by comrades, one and all
He gave his life, fought to the end,
True to his country, mates, and all …

We often think of him in silence,
No eye can see us weep,
But loving in our bosom
The memory we shall keep.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 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 William Smith, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section