The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3132) Private Arthur Crampton, 56th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Place Europe: France, Picardie, Somme, Bapaume Cambrai Area, Bullecourt
Accession Number AWM2018.1.1.334
Collection type Film
Object type Last Post film
Physical description 16:9
Maker Australian War Memorial
Place made Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell
Date made 30 November 2018
Access Open
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Description

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 (3132) Private Arthur Crampton, 56th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

3132 Private Arthur Crampton, 56th Battalion, AIF
KIA 15 May 1917
Story delivered 30 November 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Arthur Crampton.

Arthur Crampton was born on 7 August 1893, the eldest son of William and Mary Crampton of Selston in Nottinghamshire, England. The Crampton family immigrated to Australia in 1901, settling in Cardiff, near Newcastle in New South Wales. Arthur’s father, uncle and grandfather were coal miners. After attending Hamilton Public School, Arthur found work in the local mines and developing industries of the Newcastle area.

Arthur Crampton enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in September 1916. After a period of training at the Rutherford Military Camp, he sailed for England with a reinforcement group for the 56th Battalion. On arrival, he spent several months training on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, before embarking for France in April 1917. By the time he joined the battalion, Australian troops were locked in fierce fighting with the Germans in an attempt to break through the Hindenburg Line near the village of Bullecourt. The Australian 4th Division had assaulted the position earlier that month, with intense fighting resulting in thousands of Australian casualties.

Arthur had been with the 56th Battalion for less than a fortnight before it went into action at Bullecourt. The Australian 5th Division, of which the 56th was part, had been drawn into a protracted fight after Australian troops had succeeded in gaining a toehold in the German trenches, repelling counter-attacks over the following weeks. On 15 May, parts of the 56th Battalion were subjected to German mortar and artillery fire while occupying a position in the recently-captured defences known as Tower Trench. When the fighting ended, the 56th Battalion had lost 114 men killed, missing and wounded.

Among the dead was Private Arthur Crampton, who was 23 years old when he died. He was buried near where he fell, and was later reinterred at the Queant Road Cemetery where he rests today.
In the weeks following his death, Arthur’s grieving family inserted the following epitaph in the local newspaper:
Another hero gone to rest,
To sleep forever with the blest.
He knew that honour was at stake,
And so, for King and country’s sake.

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 Private Arthur Crampton, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section

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