The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (5607) Private Francis Albert Livingstone Lenon, 20th Infantry 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 Tristan Rallings, the story for this day was on (5607) Private Francis Albert Livingstone Lenon, 20th Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

5607 Private Francis Albert Livingstone Lenon, 20th Infantry Battalion, AIF
KIA 27 March 1917

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Francis Albert Livingstone Lenon.

Francis Lenon was born in 1900, one of six children born to Hugh and Annie Lenon of Adelong, in the Riverina area of New South Wales. Known as “Frank” to his family and friends, Lenon attended a local state public school in Adelong, and after the family moved to Sydney, the Newtown Superior Public School. After his education he worked as a glass blower.

Lenon enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in March 1916, and soon began training with the 46th Infantry Battalion. Like many young men at the time, Lenon was excited to join the war and what many thought would be the adventure of a lifetime. Despite being only 16 years old, at enlistment he claimed to be 18.

In joining the military he was following in the footsteps of his older brother George, who landed on Gallipoli in April 1915 and was evacuated after being wounded in battle. After receiving a medical discharge to Australia, George re-enlisted later on in the war and served in the Light Horse in the Middle East. Lenon’s younger brother Robert was too young to serve in the First World War, but later followed in his brothers’ footsteps by serving in the Royal Australian Air Force in the Second World War.

After his initial training with the 46th Battalion, Francis Lenon transferred to the reinforcements of the 20th Infantry Battalion.

On 9 September 1916, he embarked from Sydney aboard the transport ship Euripides for overseas service. He disembarked in England in late October, and upon arrival was immediately hospitalised, probably with influenza: an illness that caused him to be hospitalised on several occasions, and one that continually hampered his military service.

In December 1916, after further training in England, Lenon sailed for France and the war on the Western Front. He joined his unit, the 20th Battalion, for the first time at Dernancourt, north of the Somme River, and had his first taste of the trenches on 20 December, when he moved with his battalion to support trenches near Montauban-de-Picardie. But a day later, Lenon was evacuated from the trenches and hospitalised once again with influenza.

He spent Christmas Day 1916 in hospital, and rejoined his battalion on 28 December as it was behind the lines at Delville Wood.

Lenon spent the following weeks experiencing the hardships of trench warfare during the coldest winter in living memory. With his unit, he rotated between manning front line trenches, waiting in support trenches not far from the front line, or training and resting behind the front. Conditions were cold and wet, and the men faced frequent, intermittent attacks from enemy artillery shelling and rifle fire.

On 24 February 1917 a patrol sent by Lenon’s Battalion into no-man’s land discovered that the German positions opposite them were unoccupied. The Germans had begun their retreat to the Hindenburg Line, a series of well-defended positions designed to shorten the German lines and increase their defensive capabilities. Over the next few weeks Lenon and the 20th Battalion joined Australian and allied forces in a series of engagements as they pursued the German retreat.

On 15 March, Lenon was again hospitalised with influenza. He rejoined his unit just over a week later as it was resting behind the lines at Bapaume. It would return to the front line and support trenches two days later.

On the 27th of March 1917, Lenon and the 20th Battalion spent a day in front-line duties near Lagnicourt, north-east of Bapaume. The field diary of the battalion records that during its period of front-line service on this day it suffered ten casualties: three wounded and seven killed.
Lenon was one of those killed, most likely by enemy artillery fire.

He was 17 years old.

In the chaos and confusion of the battles that followed, the location of Lenon’s final resting place was lost, and his name is now recorded on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, which lists the names of over 10,700 Australians soldiers of the First World War who have no known grave.

Private Francis Albert Livingstone Lenon’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 Francis Albert Livingstone Lenon, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section