The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (174) Trooper Alexander Leslie Ray, 4th Light Horse Regiment, 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 Tristan Rallings, the story for this day was on (174) Trooper Alexander Leslie Ray, 4th Light Horse Regiment, First World War.

174 Trooper Alexander Leslie Ray, 4th Light Horse Regiment
KIA 16 September 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Trooper Alexander Leslie Ray.

Alexander Ray, who commonly went by his middle name “Leslie”, was born in 1891 to Nicholas and Elizabeth Ray of Victoria. His father was a miner, and the family lived in Sale, where Leslie grew up surrounded by a large family of eight brothers and three sisters. In the years before the war, Leslie’s mother lost her sight, and was completely blind for many years. Leslie went on to work as a butcher.

Leslie Ray was the first of three brothers to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force, doing so very shortly after the outbreak of war in August 1914. He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas with the 4th Australian Light Horse Regiment. The regiment was first sent to Egypt and from there, after a further period of training, to Gallipoli.

The 4th Light Horse Regiment landed on the Gallipoli peninsula in late May, and the men were rushed forward to reinforce infantry battalions holding the heights. Eventually the regiment was re-formed and given a portion of the front line to defend against Turkish attack.

On 18 July, Trooper Leslie Ray was in the front line when the Turks started firing shells over his position. He later wrote to a friend, “they fired 27 of them round us without doing any damage to speak of, and then the 28th one burst against the trench about a yard behind me and that was all I knew for about an hour. So I reckon that I got off lucky, don’t you?”

Trooper Ray had suffered severe haematomas in the blast and was eventually evacuated to hospital in Malta to recover. Although his skin was not broken, his bruises were so severe that he could not walk. After nearly a month he was able to write to his mother, “my wounds have all healed up now, and I am not feeling too bad on it, thanks to the very kind treatment of the sisters here, also the people of Malta … I was very lucky, as is everybody else that does not get killed when one of those big shells burst near him.” He added, “I shifted up to the convalescent camp today, so it will not be very long before I will be going back again to the front. I will be better pleased, as it is pretty dry and lonely when you are in a hospital where you are not known.”

Les also wrote to a friend about how much he was looking forward to getting back to the front line, saying, “The boys used to all seem quite happy in the trenches before I left, so I suppose that they are still the same. You could hear them singing for about a mile away on a clear night … with the exception of being home – which I am sure every boy is looking forward to – they would just as soon be there as anywhere else.”

Trooper Les Ray got his wish, arriving back on Gallipoli on 9 September 1915. By this time all of the major offensives were over, but the men were still as susceptible to Turkish sniper and artillery fire as ever.

One week after returning to the front, Les Ray was in the front line at Ryrie’s Post, a member of the regiment’s machine- gun section. He and another machine-gunner, Trooper Stanley Hick, had just come off duty. Ray was outside the door writing a letter, and Hick was inside lying down, when a high explosive shell landed between them. They were both killed instantly. The two were so badly mangled by the explosion that witnesses to the event remembered it with horror.

Their friend, Private Mark Geary, later wrote, “One thing I am pleased [about], poor Les never suffered, in fact he never knew what hit him, death was so sudden.” Les Ray and Stanley Hick were buried in Shell Green Cemetery, where they lie side by side today. Les Ray 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 Trooper Alexander Leslie Ray, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section