The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (6434) Lance Corporal Arthur Lloyd Stevens, 18th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, 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 (6434) Lance Corporal Arthur Lloyd Stevens, 18th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

6434 Lance Corporal Arthur Lloyd Stevens, 18th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
DOW 9 April 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal Arthur Lloyd Stevens.

Arthur Stevens was born in December 1892 in Cunnamulla, Queensland, the son of William and Alice Maud Stevens. He attended Cunnamulla State School, and then worked as a drover and horse-breaker in the district.

In October 1916, Stevens was living in Sydney when he decided to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force. Less than a month after he had enlisted, he embarked on the transport ship Suevic, bound for England. He did not make it to England at first, however, as he fell ill on board and disembarked at Cape Town, South Africa. Early in 1917, having recovered in hospital, he continued his journey to England on the transport ship Berrima.

In England, Stevens trained at the army camps on the Salisbury Plain for three months. In late May 1917, he sailed for France, where he joined the 18th Australian Infantry Battalion. He saw action with this unit at the major battles around the Belgian city of Ypres towards the end of the year, with the aim of retaking Flanders from the Germans. His battalion took part in the attack at Menin Road in September, and at Poelcappelle in October.

Stevens was well-liked in his battalion. Of short stature and strong build, and with a background in droving, he was known by the nickname “Bronco”. Having shown promise as a soldier, in November, he was promoted to the rank of lance corporal.

During the winter of 1917 and 1918, the 18th Battalion was stationed near the Franco¬–Belgian border. Here they rested, trained, and took on new recruits in an attempt to recover from the casualties suffered during 1917. As the weather warmed up in the new year, the nature of the war changed from one of static trench fighting to one of rapid movement.

In March 1918, the German army launched what would become known as the German Spring Offensive. A key objective for the German forces in this attack was to capture the rail hub city of Amiens in northern France, and split the British forces from their French allies in the south. British and Australian troops managed to halt the offensive in April at the town of Villers-Bretonneux, less than 30 kilometres from Amiens. Stevens and the 18th Battalion had been moved south to this town to help stop the German advance.

In the first week of April, the 18th Battalion was in the front line at Villers-Bretonneux, and was targeted by German artillery and machine-gun fire. At the end of the week, the unit was relieved, and the men moved to billets at the smaller village of Gentelles, behind the front lines. The battalion’s war diary noted that this village’s civilian population had evacuated in the face of the fighting, so there was plenty of straw for the men to sleep on, and the men had their first decent sleep for over a week.

At 6 am the next morning, 9 April 1918, the men were awoken by a German artillery barrage falling on the village. The unit rapidly moved to a nearby field and dug in. Late that afternoon, the Germans began another barrage of the unit’s position. Stevens was struck by shell fragments in the back and badly wounded. His comrades did what they could for him, and reported that he remained in good spirits, but he died of his wounds when he reached the dressing station. He was 25 years old.

Arthur Stevens was survived in Australia by his parents and his sister Nellie. His remains lie buried in Namps-au-Val British Cemetery, south-west of Amiens, alongside over 400 Commonwealth soldiers of the First World War. His mother had the following epitaph inscribed on his headstone: “In life we loved you dearly; in death we do the same.”

Lance Corporal Arthur Lloyd Stevens 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 Lance Corporal Arthur Lloyd Stevens, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Thomas Rogers
Historian, Military History Section