The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (19922) Driver James Alexander Lecky, 8th Field Artillery Brigade, 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 Melanie Cassar, the story for this day was on (19922) Driver James Alexander Lecky, 8th Field Artillery Brigade, AIF, First World War.

19922 Driver James Alexander Lecky, 8th Field Artillery Brigade, AIF
Died of Wounds: 14 November 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Driver James Alexander Lecky.

James Lecky was born on 25 June 1890 in Berwick, Victoria, the son of local horse breeder James Lecky Senior and his wife Maggie. James was the eldest son the family, having one brother and two sisters. He received his education as a boarder at Melbourne’s Scotch College where he was remembered as a popular student and keen horseman. On completion of his schooling, James served one year in the Light Horse Regiment, and took up work as a farmer which was his profession at the outbreak of war in 1914.

He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 25 February 1916, following his brother William, who had enlisted the year before. James Lecky had previously been rejected twice due to the state of his teeth, however his persistence paid off and he was eventually accepted. He was allocated to the 8th Field Artillery Brigade and embarked from Melbourne on board the troopship Medic on 25 May 1916.

Lecky arrived in England two months later and spent more time training with his unit before heading to the Western Front at the end of October 1916. He first saw action with his unit at Strazeele and Armentieres on his arrival at the front. His first major action took place in Belgium in September 1917 at Polygon Wood.

Polygon Wood was a significant landmark on the Ypres Salient and an essential part of allied attempts to take Passchendaele Ridge. By 1917 the wood had been reduced to burnt stumps. German forces had fortified the area with concrete blockhouses, barbed wire and an observation post making Polygon Wood a treacherous target for the advancing troops.

On 26 September, troops advanced behind a creeping barrage launched by the 8th Field Artillery Brigade, among others, in order to take their objectives. Australia’s official war historian Charles Bean later described the barrage as “the most perfect that ever protected Australian troops.”

Following action at Polygon Wood, Lecky’s next battle was at Ploegsteert Wood in November 1917 before being given leave to Paris in December. He was briefly hospitalised in January 1918 after returning from leave, and re-joined his unit near Warneton in February that year.

By 1918 the tide of the war was beginning to change. The allies had fought off a German offensive in March, and were planning to deliver a decisive blow to the enemy at the battle of Amiens in August 1918. This was to be Lecky’s next major action of the war. Before the battle took place, General John Monash addressed Australian troops, saying:

“This battle will be one of the most memorable of the whole war; there can be no doubt that, by capturing our objectives, we shall inflict blows upon the enemy that will make him stagger and will bring the end appreciably nearer. I entertain no sort of doubt that every Australian soldier will worthily rise to so great an occasion”

The battle proved an immense success and brought a swift victory into the hands of the allies. In the ensuing push, Lecky’s unit provided artillery support at Mont St Quentin and Peronne the following month. Though they were met with heavy resistance from the Germans, those attacks too, proved successful. It was during this attack on 1 September 1918 that Lecky’s brother, William, was killed in action while repairing communication lines on the front.

On 22 October 1918, with the war’s end in sight. Lecky’s unit was serving with American and Australian battalions around Le Catelet, in Northern France. As Lecky and his comrades were moving into their positions to attack, the enemy began shelling their lines. James Lecky was hit by shell fragments, severely wounding him in the chest.

He was transferred to the 10th General Hospital at Rouen where he was declared to be dangerously ill on 11 November 1918, the same day that the guns fell silent and armistice was declared. Three days later, he succumbed to his wounds and died in hospital. He was just 28 years old.

In Australia, the local newspapers noted the loss that James and Maggie Lecky endured, losing their only two sons in action:

“Mr and Mrs Lecky had two sons … both brave lads have paid the supreme sacrifice in fighting for their King and country and homeland. It is some little consolation to the bereaved parents to know that the young soldiers followed the precept [that] England expects that every man this day will do his duty, and that they, ‘fighting forward’, fell.”

Driver James Lecky was buried at the St Sever Cemetery just south of Rouen, France.

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 Driver James Alexander Lecky, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meghan Adams
Researcher, Military History Section