The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2361) Sapper John Henry Cleary, 3rd Field Company Engineers, 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 , the story for this day was on (2361) Sapper John Henry Cleary, 3rd Field Company Engineers, AIF, First World War.

2361 Sapper John Henry Cleary, 3rd Field Company Engineers
KIA 22 July 1916

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sapper John Henry Cleary.

John Cleary was born on 10 November 1894, the eldest son of John and Regina Cleary of Hobart. His father was a builder; his mother was the daughter of a Danish migrant. John Cleary senior joined the Australian Labor Party in 1912 and become a prominent member of the Tasmanian parliament. John grew up in a large family of five boys and eight girls and went on to work as a bricklayer.

On 8 December 1914 John Cleary married Olive Ware at the Catholic church on Barrack Street in Hobart. She was already pregnant, and their son, Elton John Cleary, was born on 29 April 1915.

John Cleary enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in August 1915. He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving in November with reinforcements to the 3rd Field Company Engineers. He arrived in Egypt as the evacuation from Gallipoli was in full swing, and would continue training with his unit in the desert for the following months.

The 3rd Field Company Engineers arrived in France in early April 1916. They were transferred to Strazeele, on the Belgian border, where they immediately began training in building structures such as pontoon bridges, cookhouse fire places and trenches. During this time John heard about his father’s election to the House of Assembly and wrote to congratulate him. He added that his brother, who was also serving in the engineers, would have to shout for him on pay day in celebration.

In mid-July Cleary’s company was sent south to join the battle of the Somme, the major campaign for the British and Dominion forces on the Western Front. They reached a position near the French town of Albert on 19 July, and immediately became involved in the plan to capture the German held village of Pozieres.

Within a day of arriving on the front line, the men of the 3rd Field Company Engineers were working to improve the firing line and attached communication trenches. Many of the established trenches had been filled in by shell-fire, which raged around them as they worked. On the night of 21 July, a party of sappers took part in a failed raid to establish an advanced battalion headquarters for the 9th Battalion. Another party was forward building cover at the entrance to the 3rd Brigade’s headquarters dugout. Later, on the night of 22 July, more engineers accompanied the infantry as they entered the front line to start the operation that would result in the successful capture of Pozieres.

At some point during all of this activity, Sapper John Cleary was killed in action. The manner of his death went unrecorded, and his body was lost in the shell-fire of Pozieres. Today he is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, one among more than 10,000 names. His wife remarried before the end of the war, but his son, named for John Cleary, lived until he was nearly 80.

The name of John Cleary 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 Sapper John Henry Cleary, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section