The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1340) Private Thomas Leslie Debnam, 2nd 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 (1340) Private Thomas Leslie Debnam, 2nd Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1340 Private Thomas Leslie Debnam, 2nd Battalion, AIF
DOW 29 July 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Thomas Leslie Debnam.

Thomas Debnam was born on 1 July 1889 to Thomas and Margaret Debnam of Young, New South Wales. He grew up on his parent’s property at Milkman’s Creek with his brother and three sisters, and was educated at the Burrangong Public School. Tom went on to work as a labourer in the district, and was described as “a fine stamp of a young man, used to plenty of outdoor work.”

Tom Debnam enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in December 1914, a few months after the outbreak of war. He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas on board the troopship Seang Bee in February 1915.

Private Tom Debnam arrived on Gallipoli on 7 May 1915, about two weeks after the initial dawn landings. The 2nd Battalion had become split up and muddled with other units, reorganising and strengthening its defences in the days following. From the time Tom arrived, the 2nd Battalion was largely engaged in defending the shaky Anzac perimeter until the large scale offensives of August. Its line repeatedly came under attack; it was a dangerous place to be.

On 21 July 1915 the men of the 2nd Battalion noticed that they were being bombarded by a new kind of bomb which was attached to a stick. They thought that it was being fired from a bow because the stick helped the enemy throw the bomb so far. These Turkish “broomstick bombs” continued to be launched at their lines through the evening.

At 10.30 pm a broomstick bomb fell near the quartermaster’s store and wounded two men. Private Tom Debnam suffered from a compound fracture of the skull which exposed his brain at the back of his head. He was carefully carried to the beach and on to a hospital ship, and from there he went to Malta for further treatment.

It is doubtful that Private Thomas Debnam ever regained consciousness. Eight days after he was hit, at 5 am on 29 July 1915, he passed away peacefully in hospital. He was buried in the Addolorata Cemetery in Malta with full military honours, with two wreaths placed on his coffin. His grave today bears the inscription “not gone from memory nor from love, but to our Father’s home above.”

In Young, Tom Debnam’s death was reported in the newspaper, in an article which reads, “Private Debnam was a man the nation could ill afford to lose. He was strong both in physique and courage and went forward willingly to do or to die, realising that it was his duty to help save this country from being trampled upon … his parents have given a noble son, but they have the consolation of knowing that they gave him in a cause than which none other could be greater.”

Tom Debnam had been on the Gallipoli peninsula for 75 days, he died at the age of 26.

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 Private Thomas Leslie Debnam, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section