The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (10673) Sapper Archie Gordon Shepherd, 3rd Division Signals Company, First World War.

Place Middle East: Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Dardanelles, Gallipoli
Accession Number AWM2020.1.1.44
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 13 February 2020
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 David Sutton, the story for this day was on (10673) Sapper Archie Gordon Shepherd, 3rd Division Signals Company, First World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

10673 Sapper Archie Gordon Shepherd, 3rd Division Signals Company
DOD 3 November 1917

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sapper Archie Gordon Shepherd.

Archie Shepherd was born in 1893 to Charles and Janet Shepherd of Inglewood, Victoria. He attended the local state school in Inglewood, and went on to work as a telegraphist for the postal department.

Shepherd enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force within weeks of the outbreak of war in 1914. He was posted to the 5th Battalion, and left Australia for active service overseas within two months. The 5th Battalion arrived in Egypt on 2 December 1914, and spent several months training before leaving for Gallipoli.

The 5th Battalion landed on the Gallipoli peninsula as part of the second wave on 25 April 1915. At some point – either on the day of the landing, or in the confusion that followed – Archie Shephard was shot in the chest. He was evacuated to hospital in Egypt, where he spent some months recovering from his wound. The bullet had lodged in his chest cavity and could not be removed. In September 1915 he was sent home to Australia and discharged from the armed forces.

Shepherd eventually made a good enough recovery to re-enlist for service the following year. In November 1916 he once again left Australia for active service overseas. This time the pressing need for communications expertise on the Western Front put Archie Shepherd’s telegraphy skills in a more valuable light, and this time he was posted to a signals company.

Sapper Shepherd of the 3rd Division Signals Company was first sent to England and from there to France, where he remained for the following 11 months. His service was unremarkable, except for one charge of delaying an important telegram in April 1917. Otherwise he remained with his company without leave, praise, or censure throughout 1917.

In October 1917, Sapper Shepherd fell ill and was taken to hospital in St Omer. The bullet in his chest cavity was causing problems; at one point he had the symptoms of an intestinal obstruction, but later he showed signs of a diaphragmatic hernia. On 3 November 1917, unable to breathe, Sapper Archie Shepherd died of wounds sustained on Gallipoli more than two and a half years earlier. He was 24 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 Sapper Archie Gordon Shepherd, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section

  • Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (10673) Sapper Archie Gordon Shepherd, 3rd Division Signals Company, First World War. (video)