The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (941) Trooper Stanley Hick, 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (941) Trooper Stanley Hick, 4th Light Horse Regiment, First World War.

941 Trooper Stanley Hick, 4th Light Horse Regiment
KIA 16 September 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Trooper Frederick Stanley Hick.

Frederick Hick was born in 1888 in Poowong East in Victoria, the fifth son of Daniel and Mary Hick of Victoria. He attended Mountain View school, after which he went to work on his father’s farm. He was an esteemed member of the Grahamvale Methodist Church, and took part in the Shepparton Christian Endeavour Society. Known by his middle name of Stanley, he was considered popular in the district.

Stanley Hick enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force several weeks after the outbreak of war in 1914. It was reported that “he was not of a belligerent nature but [he] could not resist the call of Empire, especially after reading the accounts of Germany’s treatment of Belgium.” He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas with reinforcements to the 4th Light Horse Regiment in May 1915.

Trooper Hick was first sent to Egypt to continue training in the desert, and joined his regiment on the Gallipoli peninsula in early August 1915. A few weeks later he was transferred to the regiment’s machine-gun section.

On 16 September, Trooper Stanley Hick was in the front line near Ryrie’s Post. He had just come off duty, and was in a dugout he shared with another machine-gunner of the 4th Light Horse Regiment, Trooper Les Ray. Hick was in the dugout lying down, and Ray was just outside the door writing a letter, when a high explosive shell landed between them. They were both killed instantly.

Stanley Hick and Les Ray were so badly mangled by the explosion that witnesses to the event remembered it with horror. Private Mark Geary wrote “one thing I am pleased about … they never knew what hit them, death was so sudden.”

Troopers Stanley Hick and Les Ray were buried in Shell Green Cemetery, where they lie side-by-side today. Hick’s grave bears the words: “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” He was killed just a few days after his 27th birthday.

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 Stanley Hick, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section