The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (6908) Private Arvo Malakuas Tornroos, 24th Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Places
Accession Number AWM2020.1.1.71
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 March 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 Tristan Rallings, the story for this day was on (6908) Private Arvo Malakuas Tornroos, 24th Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

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Speech transcript

6908 Private Arvo Malakuas Tornroos, 24th Infantry Battalion, AIF
KIA: 5 October 1918


Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Arvo Malakuas Tornroos.

Arvo Tornroos was born in September 1890 to Johan and Amanda Tornroos in Rauma, on the west coast of Finland. Tornroos attended a local school, worked as a labourer in a leather factory, and later became a sailor. Around 1911, when he was 21 years old, his sailing work brought him to Australia, where he decided to stay, and he took up work as a farm hand in Leongatha, Victoria.

Tornroos enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 29 June 1917 and began training with the reinforcements of the 24th Infantry Battalion. In November 1917 he sailed from Melbourne, and after a brief stopover in Egypt, travelled to England, where he continued his training in preparation for service on the Western Front.

Tornroos’ training in England was interrupted by a serious case of meningitis, and it was not until mid-1918 that he sailed for France. He joined his unit, the 24th Battalion, for the first time on France’s national holiday, Bastille Day, 14 July 1918. The battalion was behind the front-line trenches at Aubigny, east of Amiens on the south bank of the Somme River.

Just over a week later, he moved with his unit to the trenches near Villers-Bretonneux. On the night of 22 July, Tornoos was serving in a working party at nearby Monument Wood, when they came under heavy German high explosive and gas artillery attack. The men of the working party suffered relatively light casualties during the barrage, but as the survivors made their way back to the rest of their battalion, they had to cross some low ground that was thickly covered by German gas. The low lying gas caused 80 casualties, many of whom were hospitalised. Tornroos was one of those evacuated from the front for treatment, and he did not rejoin his battalion until September.

In early October 1918, Tornroos and the 24th Battalion took part in attacks on German positions following the breach of the Hindenburg Line at a series of German trenches known as the Beaurevoir system. On 5 October, they formed part of the Australian 6th Brigade’s attack to capture the village of Montbrehain to the north of St Quentin.

Following an early morning barrage, Tornroos and the 24th Battalion attacked towards the north of Montbrehain as part of the Australian attack. Amid the artillery and German machine-guns fire the Australians successfully captured the village and took 400 German prisoners of war, but also suffered 430 casualties.

Tornroos was one of those killed in the action, most likely by German machine-gun fire. He was 27 years old. He was killed in the last infantry battle fought by Australians on the Western Front.

He is buried in the Calvaire Cemetery in Montbrehain, where 71 Australian casualties of the First World War now lie.

Private Arvo Malakuas Tornroos’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 Private Arvo Malakuas Tornroos, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section


  • Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (6908) Private Arvo Malakuas Tornroos, 24th Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War. (video)