The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3333) Private John Henry Hammon, 4th Australian 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (3333) Private John Henry Hammon, 4th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

3333 Private John Henry Hammon, 4th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
KIA: 23 August 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private John Henry Hammon.

John Hammon was born in about 1883 in Ballarat, Victoria, the eldest son of Henry and Emelie Hammon. Known as “Jack” to his family and friends, he attended school in Ballarat and nearby Creswick. As a young man, he moved to Sydney, where he worked as a grocer.

In July 1915, Hammon enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He trained at Liverpool army camp outside Sydney for several months, before embarking on the transport ship Port Lincoln in October. Early in 1916, he joined his unit, the 4th Australian Infantry Battalion, which was training in Egypt. In March, the Australian infantry left the Middle East and sailed to France to join the fighting on the Western Front.

Hammon’s unit travelled to the north of France to continue training in the conditions of combat that they would encounter in Europe. The 4th Battalion entered battle for the first time at the village of Pozieres, north of the Somme River. The Australians faced determined German resistance, and during the fighting in late July, Hammon was severely wounded in the legs and back by shrapnel from an artillery shell.

He was evacuated to hospital in France, and then taken to England where he underwent an operation to remove shrapnel pieces from his leg.

Hammon spent the winter of 1916 and 1917 recovering at the army camps on Salisbury Plain. While there, he wrote to a friend in Australia, saying that although the people in England were very nice, he missed the warm weather of Australia.

Hammon returned to France in March 1917. He felt that he was not quite fighting fit, but men were needed at the front, and he continued training and recuperating in the rear areas. When he re-joined the 4th Battalion in June, it was recovering from the heavy fighting near Bullecourt in the previous month. Towards the end of 1917, the unit prepared to take part in the major British assault around the Belgian city of Ypres.

Hammon took part in several battles directed at capturing the high ground of Flanders. Around the tiny village of Passchendaele, the assaulting forces foundered in the mud. Through the efforts of Canadian, New Zealand, British and Australian forces, the ridge line was eventually captured, at the cost of enormous casualties. Hammon and the rest of the Australians then entered a period of training and recovery in a quieter sector of the front. They spent the winter of 1917 and 1918 near the border of France and Belgium.

In March 1918, Hammon had two weeks’ leave in England, and when he returned the Germans had launched a major offensive. Known as the German Spring Offensive, it was to be their last large-scale assault of the war. By the middle of the year, the German troops had lost their momentum and the attack had been stopped. At this point, the British and French forces and their allies began a series of attacks that would ultimately end the war in November.

The 4th Battalion took part in the massed assault by British, Australian and Canadian troops at Amiens on 8 August 1918, capturing more ground than any other single day of the war. In following weeks, the 4th Battalion participated in further attacks that sought to consolidate the gains, and push the German forces further back. One of these battles took place near the French village of Chuignes on 23 August 1918. During the fighting, Hammon was killed in action. He was 35 years old.

Jack Hammon is buried in Heath Cemetery in France, where more than 1,800 Commonwealth soldiers are buried or commemorated. His mother chose the simple epitaph, “price of peace”.

Two of Jack’s younger brothers also served in the Australian Imperial Force. Private Norman Hammon was a member of the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, and Corporal Harry Hammon was in the Army Medical Corps. Both saw action on the Western Front, and both returned to Australia in 1919.

In Australia, Jack Hammon was survived by his mother, his younger sister Jessie and younger brother Cecil.
Private John Henry Hammon 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 John Henry Hammon, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Thomas Rogers
Historian, Military History Section