Places | |
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Accession Number | AWM2019.1.1.131 |
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 | 11 May 2019 |
Access | Open |
Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
Copyright |
Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial![]() |
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. |
The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2105) Private Herbert Ernest Brown, 1st Pioneer 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 Jana Johnson, the story for this day was on (2105) Private Herbert Ernest Brown, 1st Pioneer Battalion, AIF, First World War.
Film order form2105 Private Herbert Ernest Brown, 1st Pioneer Battalion, AIF
DOD 26 March 1917
Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Herbert Ernest Brown.
Herbert Brown was born in Sandhurst, near Bendigo, Victoria, in 1881. He was the second son of Jonathon and Elizabeth Brown. He married Ada Hocking in 1903, worked as a miner, and on the outbreak of war in 1914, he had three children: two daughters and a son.
Herbert Brown enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in March 1915. He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas with the 7th Battalion. He first went to Egypt, and from there to Gallipoli. One month after he arrived on Gallipoli with the 7th Battalion, his fourth child, a daughter, was born in Australia.
Brown was wounded in the battle of Lone Pine by a bomb wound to his right buttock. He was evacuated from the peninsula to hospital in Cairo, and was only able to rejoin his battalion for active duty the following year. In early 1916 the AIF, recently returned from Gallipoli, was undergoing a period of reorganisation and training. As part of this process, Brown was transferred to the 1st Pioneer Battalion, and in April 1916 arrived in France to fight on the Western Front. He was known by his mates in the pioneers as “high explosive” because of his initials “H.E.”.
A month after arriving in France, Private Brown became ill and had to spend several months in hospital suffering from balanitis. He did not return to his battalion until after the major battles of 1916 were over. Winter was closing in, and the 1st Pioneer Battalion spent what would become one of the coldest winters on record labouring close to the front lines for days and weeks at a time.
In late March 1917, with the weather still bitterly cold, Private Brown was in a camp not far behind the front lines on the Somme. On 25 March he had been drinking rum that he had apparently found in a dugout or hut. Accounts differ; some say he became sick directly after drinking the rum, others say that he went to bed without blankets. But when someone went to find him the following morning, he was dead. The formal decision was that he had died in the night from heart failure.
Private Herbert Brown was buried in the nearby military cemetery at Bazentin-le-Petit. He was 35 years old.
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 Herbert Ernest Brown, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.
Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section
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Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2105) Private Herbert Ernest Brown, 1st Pioneer Battalion, AIF, First World War. (video)