The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3933) Private George Henry Prentice, 5th 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on (3933) Private George Henry Prentice, 5th Battalion, First World War.

3933 Private George Henry Prentice, 5th Battalion
DOW 7 June 1918
Story delivered 13 December 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private George Henry Prentice.

George Prentice was born in 1885, one of three sons born to William and Elizabeth Prentice of Bendigo, Victoria. After attending Long Gully State School, George worked in one of the area’s many goldmines, but with little success. Following the death of their father in 1902 the three Prentice brothers worked to support their widowed mother until she remarried four years later. George fell on hard times and lived intermittently with Martha Windmer, who considered George her common-law husband.

George Prentice had some semblance of military training, having spent six months parading part-time in the Citizens Military Forces in the years before the war. Perhaps motivated by the prospect of full-time employment, he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915. After a period of training at Broadmeadows Military Camp, in November 1915 he embarked for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the 5th Battalion destined for the fighting in the Dardanelles. By the time he arrived, the Gallipoli campaign had ended and Australian troops spent the following months in camp near Cairo training in preparation for deployment to the fighting on the Western Front.

Prentice sailed for France with the 5th Battalion in March 1916 and spent the following months in the relatively quiet “Nursery Sector” near the town of Armentieres before moving south to the Somme in early July. Here the battalion was involved in the capture of Pozieres village and repeated assaults at Mouquet Farm throughout August and September.

In December, when the Australians were holding positions between the villages of Flers and Gueudecourt, Prentice was hit in the face and wrist with shrapnel and had to be evacuated to hospitals in England for a lengthy period of recovery. Once there, he contracted bronchitis and diphtheria which delayed his recovery by several months. On regaining his health, Prentice spent several more months in various depot units before finally returning to the battalion in Belgium in October 1917. Over the following winter, George succumbed to various illnesses brought on by the frigid conditions and spent time in various hospitals behind the lines. He returned to his battalion in March 1918 in the line near Messines.

His return occurred during one of the most critical periods of the war. In March 1918, German troops launched a massive offensive that succeeded in breaking the stalemate of trench warfare on the Western Front and broke through British and French lines. Restoring the war to one of movement, German troops penetrated deep into Allied lines, advancing towards the city of Amiens, the major logistical and support hub of the Allied armies in France. Australian troops were spared the onslaught, but were sent south with dozens of other British divisions in an effort to defend Amiens. The 1st Division, of which the 5th Battalion was part, went into the line near Strazeele where it thwarted German attempts to strike at the major rail and communication hub at Hazebrouck.

The 1st Division was still holding positions forward of Stazeele when the German offensive ended in failure. By June, the area had become relatively quiet by Western Front standards, but the Australians were engaged in “peaceful penetration” raids against the Germans, capturing isolated posts and machine-gun positions in daring daylight raids.

On the morning of 7 June 1918, troops of the 5th Battalion carried out two raids against the Germans astride a small stream known as the Meteren Becque. The Germans retaliated with artillery, mortar, and machine-gun fire. Prentice was mortally wounded in the stomach by a stray bullet that morning while manning a Lewis gun post. He was evacuated to the 1st Field Ambulance aid post where he died later that day. Aged 32 at the time of his death, he was buried at the nearby Borre British Cemetery at Hazebrouck.

The war took a heavy toll for the Prentice family. Both of George’s brothers served: James was severely wounded on Gallipoli and returned home in 1916; Albert went missing in the bitter fighting at Mouquet Farm and his remains were never found. When Elizabeth Prentice died in Bendigo in 1947 she had outlived all three of her boys.

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

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section