The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2810) Sergeant Charles James Durham, 14th 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 (2810) Sergeant Charles James Durham, 14th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

2810 Sergeant Charles James Durham, 14th Battalion, AIF
KIA 13 May 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sergeant Charles James Durham.

Charles Durham was born in 1892, the eldest son of Alfred and Maggie Durham of the Melbourne suburb of Coburg. He attended Coburg State School, and later worked as a clerk at the Melbourne Safe Deposit company.

Durham enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 3 July 1915 and commenced training at the Broadmeadows camp near Melbourne. He was one of four members of his extended family to serve for Australia in the First World War.

On 27 September 1915 Durham sailed with reinforcements for the 14th Infantry Battalion from Melbourne to Egypt, where he continued training and preparing for the war on the Western Front.

He was in Egypt during a time of rapid expansion and reorganisation of the Australian forces known as the doubling of the AIF. During this period, he was severely reprimanded for being away without leave for over a month. He did, however, eventually return to his unit, and afterwards served with distinction, and was promoted several times.

In June 1916 he sailed to France, and just over one month later fought in the battle of Pozières near the Somme River. In this battle, Australian forces suffered over 23,000 casualties in six weeks of fighting.
In early October 1916, Durham was briefly hospitalised with influenza. He rejoined his unit as they were resting and training behind the lines near Steenvorde, in northern France, near the border with Belgium.

On 8 December 1916, Durham was recommended for inclusion on the Commander in Chief’s Congratulatory Card for his excellent work maintaining communications during a battle in which the Australian forces were stuck between two German strong points.

In April 1917, Durham and the 14th Battalion took part in the first battle of Bullecourt, an attempt to capture a German strong point on their defensive Hindenburg Line. Australian forces suffered over 3,000 casualties in a single day.

After Bullecourt, Durham was promoted several times: in April 1917 to lance corporal, in July to corporal, and in March 1918, after a brief period in hospital with scabies, to the rank of sergeant.

On 13 May 1918, Durham and the 14th Infantry Battalion were manning the front-line trenches near Villers-Bretonneux following the successful Australian recapture of the town.

When this sector of the front came under a heavy German high explosive and shrapnel artillery attack, Durham was killed, the only man from his battalion to fall on that day.
He is buried in the Adelaide Cemetery at Villers-Bretonneux, where 960 Commonwealth soldiers of the First World War now lie. His grieving parents left the inscription on his grave: “Until the day dawns and the shadows flee away”.
He was 25 years old.

Sergeant Charles James Durham’s 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 Sergeant Charles James Durham, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section