The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Lieutenant Walter Harry Buncombe, 47th Battalion (Infantry), First World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial every 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on Lieutenant Walter Harry Buncombe, 47th Battalion (Infantry), First World War.

**Due to technical issues this recording is of poor quality and not for public display.**

Lieutenant Walter Harry Buncombe, 47th Battalion
KIA 12th October 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 12 September 2013

Today, we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Walter Harry Buncombe.

Walter Buncombe was born in Sydney. He attended the Model Public School in Fort Street as a young boy, and received a state scholarship to attend the Boys' Public High School. Both of his parents died when he was young, and he moved to Queensland, taking up a position with the manufacturing stationers and printers W.E. Smith in Brisbane.

It was from here that he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in January 1916 at the age of 30. He applied for a commission and, although the application was not immediately successful, he quickly moved through a series of promotions and earned his commission through merit anyway. Buncombe was sent to England with the 5th Reinforcements to the 47th Battalion and went through a further period of training. In early 1917 he undertook a rifle course at Tidworth and passed with first class results and "a good knowledge of the Lewis gun".

Lieutenant Buncombe finally arrived in France in April 1917 and proceeded to join his battalion in the field. He would stay with them until his death. In October 1917 the 47th Battalion were ordered to attack German positions near the Belgian village of Zonnebeke. Buncombe was second-in-command of A Company and took them over the top on time and in good order.

Buncombe made it only 150 metres into the attack; he was hit by an artillery shell and fell calling out to his men to "come on". Because the battle had only just begun, there was not time for his body to be retrieved. It could not be found, and so it was presumed that he had been reburied by shell fire. A cross was erected nearby in his memory but that, too, was lost. Today he is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Ypres.

Buncombe was sadly missed, being considered "a splendid type of officer and one of the very best in the Battalion ... tall, strongly built, very quiet, very popular." He was 31 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on your left, along with around more than 60 000 others from the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lieutenant Walter Harry Buncombe, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.