The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (VX25531) Private Albert William Baird, 2/7th Australian Infantry Battalion, Second 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 (VX25531) Private Albert William Baird, 2/7th Australian Infantry Battalion, Second World War.

VX25531 Private Albert William Baird, 2/7th Australian Infantry Battalion
KIA 27 May 1943
Photograph P02466.157

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Albert William Baird.

Albert Baird was born on the 15th of March 1901 in Quambatook, Victoria, the son of Robert and Anne Baird.

Before enlisting in the second Australian Imperial Force, Albert worked as a labourer, enduring the difficult years of the Great Depression.

In 1933, he was involved in an accident, when a train carrying a large group of men to unemployment relief works hit a sheep and was derailed. Two men were killed, and others seriously injured.

Baird walked two and a half miles to a farm house for help, before discovering that the house had no telephone.

Albert Baird enlisted in the second AIF on the 17th of June 1940, at the age of 39, barely under the upper age limit for service. After joining a training battalion, in September he came down with the mumps.

By October he had recovered, and early the following month he was fined and confined to barracks for a week as punishment for being absent without leave.

On the 29th of December 1940, Private Albert Baird embarked from Melbourne, bound for overseas service.

Arriving in Palestine in January, in early February he joined the 2nd/7th Battalion, which had just participated in the capture of Bardia and Tobruk.

In early April 1941, the 2nd/7th, with the rest of the 6th Division, deployed to Greece to resist the anticipated German invasion. For Baird and his comrades, the Greek campaign was essentially one long withdrawal through a series of rear guard positions, beginning on the 16th of April. The majority of the men were evacuated from Kalamata aboard the Costa Rica on the night of the 26th of April. The following afternoon, however, the Costa Rica was crippled by German aircraft. The men of the battalion were rescued by a pair of British destroyers and landed on Crete.

The 2nd/7th was initially deployed on Crete to defend the coastline around Georgioupolis [pron. Your-yoop-olis] but, after the German airborne landings on the 20th of May, they were soon moved up to join the fighting around Canea [pron. Kan-NEE-a].

On the 27th of May, at a place nicknamed 42nd Street on the north coast, the battalion took part in a wild bayonet charge that temporarily rebuffed the German advance.

After this point, Private Baird disappeared and was reported missing in action. A court of inquiry held in mid-July found that he had been killed in action on the 27th of May 1941.

Baird’s comrades in the 2nd/7th went on to play a critical rear guard role as Allied forces retreated to Sphakia [pron. Sva-kee-YA].

As a result, the battalion was left behind and taken prisoner after the withdrawal of the last evacuation vessels on the 1st of June. The battalion’s casualties were so heavy that by the end of the campaign it had essentially been destroyed.

Albert Baird was 40 years old. With no known grave, today he is remembered at the Athens Memorial, which commemorates nearly 3,000 Commonwealth soldiers.

His photograph is displayed today by the Pool of Reflection.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second 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 Albert William Baird, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.