The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2428) Lance Corporal William Victor Walker Piper, 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 (2428) Lance Corporal William Victor Walker Piper, 4th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

2428 Lance Corporal William Victor Walker Piper, 4th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
17 August 1916

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal William Victor Walker Piper.

William Piper was born in Cassilis, a small village in central west of New South Wales. The eldest son of Thomas and Edith Piper, he grew up amid a growing family, attended state school at Cassilis, and went on to work as a station hand.

Known as “Victor”, when war broke out, Piper was living at West Maitland with his cousin, John, at the Grand Central Hotel.

Newspaper reports state that Piper was twice rejected for enlistment in the Australian Imperial Force. This was perhaps because of an undescended testicle, which was noted during the medical examination of his third attempt to enlist. On this occasion he was successful, and he formally enlisted on 31 May 1915.

He was allotted to reinforcements to the 4th Battalion, and after some initial training in Australia, embarked at Sydney on the troopship Orsova in mid-July 1915.

Private Piper joined his battalion at Gallipoli, where it had led the charge at Lone Pine. After a period defending the Anzac beachhead, in mid-October Piper was transferred to a hospital ship, suffering from dysentery.

After treatment and recuperation, in December he was transferred to light duty in Egypt. With the evacuation from Gallipoli in December, Piper rejoined his unit, and was present during the “doubling of the AIF” – with new battalions being formed with a mixture of new recruits and veterans of Gallipoli.

In late March Piper and his battalion embarked for France, bound for the Western Front. The battalion’s first major action in France was at Pozieres in the Somme valley in July 1916.

Intended in part to divert the German army’s attention from Verdun, the fighting around Pozieres saw the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Australian divisions wresting a small, devastated area from the enemy at a staggering cost.

The 1st Division – of which Piper’s 4th Battalion was part – was the first to go into battle on 23 July 1916. The Australians managed to capture the village of Pozieres, but were subjected to relentless artillery bombardment that reduced the village to rubble and inflicted a heavy toll. The 2nd Division relieved the 1st, and suffered even more losses attacking towards the heights east of the village. The 4th Division then went in, pressing its attack north towards Mouquet Farm and holding off German attempts to retake Pozieres.

Piper survived his first experience of Pozieres. He wrote a letter to his family that he had gone five days without sleep, and had some miraculous escapes: On one occasion he and a half dozen other men were buried in the debris of a trench wrecked by shrapnel and were dug out while the enemy guns were still firing; he was shot on several occasions, and although not seriously wounded, his helmet had been struck and dinted.

Promoted to lance corporal on 4 August 1916, Piper was given a week’s furlough in England to rest. On his return, he rejoined his severely reduced unit as it was to the east of Pozieres.

On 17 August 1916, Lance Corporal William Piper was killed.

His parents received notice of his death the day before receiving a letter that he had sent them on 9 August ¬– he had reported that he was in London on furlough, and was feeling well.

William Piper was 28 years old.

His remains were buried between Pozieres and Mouquet Farm in northern France, but were lost during later fighting.
Today, with no known grave, he is commemorated at the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 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 Myles Standish Cox, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Duncan Beard, Editor
Military History Section