The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (544) Trooper Lewis John Greay, 10th Light Horse Regiment, AIF, First World War.

Places
Accession Number AWM2019.1.1.208
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 27 July 2019
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 Jana Johnston, the story for this day was on (544) Trooper Lewis John Greay, 10th Light Horse Regiment, AIF, First World War.

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Speech transcript

544 Trooper Lewis John Greay, 10th Light Horse Regiment, AIF
KIA 16 September 1916

Today we remember and pay tribute to Trooper Lewis John Greay.
Lewis Greay was born in 1895 in Albany, Western Australia, the eldest son of William and Agnes Greay. He grew up in the Woodanilling district, north of Albany, attended the local school, as was described as “very popular in the district” and “a fine stamp of a young fellow”.

Lewis enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in October 1914, and in February 1915 embarked from Fremantle for overseas service. He joined the 10th Light Horse Regiment and a brief period of training in Egypt, sailed for Gallipoli, where he arrived in mid-May. Due to the conditions on the Gallipoli peninsula, Lewis and his Light Horse Regiment served dismounted during the Dardanelles campaign.

In August, Lewis and the 10th Light Horse took part in the tragic charge on the Nek, ordered to assault Turkish positions that dominated the Australian lines below. After a brief and largely ineffective bombardment, Australian troops jumped out of their trenches into waiting Turkish machine-guns. Lewis and his regiment formed the third wave of the Australian attack and suffered terrible casualties.

Lewis survived the Nek, and weeks later took part in the bloody and confused action at Hill 60, the last major offensive on the Gallipoli peninsula. The attacks on Hill 60 were conducted in order to widen the area of land captured by allied forces between Anzac Cove and British forces at Suvla Bay. The first attempt, which began on the 21st of August, was partially successful, and Australian, New Zealand, British and Indian forces captured a foothold on the hill. In a renewed assault the next day, raw Australian troops again made a push but were forced back by the Turkish defences.

On 27 August, Lewis’s regiment took part in a renewed assault on Hill 60. An artillery bombardment began at 4 pm and continued for an hour before the attack began. The assault drew immediate and heavy machine-gun, rifle, and shrapnel fire from the Turkish positions. The battle raged for three days, during which time the objective was taken, partially lost, and then partially retaken by the allied assault. Lewis then remained on Gallipoli until the cold and wintry evacuation of Anzac forces in December 1915.

Back in Egypt, Lewis served as a signaller in his unit, which formed part of the Anzac Mounted Division. The men worked with the British to defend the Suez Canal from Turkish advances across the Sinai peninsula, conducting patrols of the desert and occasional raids on Turkish positions.
Lewis’s first major action in Egypt occurred in the battle at Romani in August 1916. Australian, New Zealand, and British forces had occupied the town of Romani since April 1916, and had used the town as a base to conduct patrols and disrupt Turkish access to the Suez Canal. In late July, reconnaissance aircraft reported a force of up to 14,000 Turkish soldiers forming nearby. The battle began at about midnight on 3 August when Australian forces, who were moving into position to set a defence of the town, unexpectedly ran into advance Turkish troops. Five hundred Australian rifles were pitted against up to 8,000 Turkish soldiers. Anzac and British forces were initially pushed back, but after the arrival of reinforcements were able to defend and eventually push forward. Lewis and the 3rd Light Horse Brigade became involved in the battle on the 5th of August when they took part in a counter-attack that broke the Turkish lines
In September 1916, the 3rd Light Horse Brigade was in the process of returning from a patrol when it stopped and made camp at Hod Amara to the east of Salmana. The group came under enemy machine gun fire that killed one man and one horse. Lewis Greay was that man. He was 21 years old.

His comrades buried him and gave a service on a rise about 270 metres east of Salmana. However, as the survivors moved on the exact location of his grave was lost and his body has never been found.

Today his name is listed on the Jerusalem Memorial which commemorates the names of 3,300 Commonwealth servicemen who died in the fighting in Egypt and Palestine in the First World War who have no known grave.

Lewis’ death was deeply felt in his local community back home. Friends of the family wrote in a local newspaper that: “He nobly rose to his country’s call, He gave his best, his life, his all”.

Trooper Lewis John Greay 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.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Trooper Lewis John Greay, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section

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