The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3503) Lance Corporal Edward Kingston Garratt, 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (3503) Lance Corporal Edward Kingston Garratt, 18th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

3503 Lance Corporal Edward Kingston Garratt, 18th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
KIA 9 April 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal Edward Kingston Garratt.

Edward Garratt was born in Sydney in 1893, the youngest son of Samuel and Elizabeth Garratt. He grew up in the suburb of Lewisham, and attended nearby Kegworth Public School. After leaving school, Edward worked as a plasterer.

In October 1915, Garratt enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and began his preliminary training in Australia. He sailed on the transport ship Aeneas in late December. By the time he arrived in Egypt, the Australians had withdrawn from the Gallipoli peninsula, so Garratt went directly into the Australian army training camps near Cairo. There he joined the 18th Australian Infantry Battalion.

Soon after arriving in Egypt, Garratt fell ill, but he had recovered in time to accompany the 18th Battalion to France at the end of March 1916. In May, he fell ill again, this time more seriously. Suffering from appendicitis, he was transferred to hospital in England and remained there until late November. He returned to his unit in France and spent the bitter winter of 1916 and 1917 in the trenches and behind the lines.

In March 1917, Garratt was promoted to the rank of lance corporal. He was a Lewis gunner, in charge of a team that used the light machine-gun in his company. This important role put him at risk of drawing the enemy’s fire during battle. In May that year, the 18th Battalion took part in the second battle of Bullecourt, and Garratt was wounded in the leg. After a short stay in hospital, he returned to his unit. In June, his rank reverted to private as a punishment for two days’ absence without leave. By September, though, he was again promoted to lance corporal.

During the winter of 1917 and 1918 Garratt had leave in England, and was hospitalised again with illness. When he returned to his unit in mid-March 1918, the 18th Battalion was in the thick of defensive fighting.

The German army had launched what would be its final major assault of the war, which became 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, and in doing so split the British forces in the north from their French allies in the south. British and Australian forces managed to halt the offensive in April at the town of Villers-Bretonneux, less than 30 kilometres from Amiens. Garratt and the 18th Battalion were stationed at the town to help stop the German advance.

In the first week of April, the 18th Battalion was in the front line at Villers-Bretonneux, during which time the men were 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 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 they 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 farmhouse in which Garratt was sleeping was hit by a shell, and he was killed instantly. Survived by his parents and five siblings, brothers Sam, Percy, and Will, and sisters Emma and Lily, he was just 25 years old.

Edward Garratt’s remains were buried in Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, where they lie today alongside over 2,100 Commonwealth soldiers from the First World War.

His family suffered further pain when the package containing his personal effects was lost. It was bound for Australia on the steam ship Barunga when the ship was torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Cornwall in July 1918. British destroyers were soon on the scene and managed to rescue all aboard, but the personal effects of Garratt, and about 5,000 other Australian soldiers who had died on the Western Front, were lost.

Edward Garratt 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 Edward Kingston Garratt, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Thomas Rogers
Historian, Military History Section