The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Major Philip Llewellyn Howell-Price, 1 Battalion, 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on Major Philip Llewellyn Howell-Price, 1 Battalion, First World War.

Major Philip Llewellyn Howell-Price, 1st Battalion
KIA 4 October 1917
Photograph: A05729

Story delivered 14 February 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Major Philip Llewellyn Howell-Price.

Philip Howell-Price was one of five sons of the Reverend John Howell-Price, a Welshman, and his wife, Isabel, who was born at sea off Shanghai. Philip had experience in the citizen forces as a young man, and although he enlisted in the AIF as a private on the outbreak of war he was soon commissioned as a second lieutenant. He would continue to gain regular promotion throughout his military career.

Howell-Price served with the 1st Battalion, and was with them when they landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. He served with distinction and was twice commended for acts of conspicuous gallantry and valuable services during the early months on the peninsula.

Howell-Price was Mentioned in Despatches for his conspicuous gallantry at the battle of Lone Pine in August 1915. Towards the end of this operation he was wounded in the back by a bomb. It took him nearly three months to recover, but he returned to ANZAC Cove and stayed until the evacuation at the end of the year.

Philip Howell-Price regularly demonstrated a capacity for military leadership and bravery that would see him decorated several more times. In 1916, shortly after arriving in France, he successfully led a raiding party of four officers and 60 men in one of his battalion's first operations, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

He was awarded the Military Cross later that year for "gallant conduct and devotion to duty" following his leadership of a company of men in an operation near Flers. Despite heavy casualties, Howell-Price repeatedly reorganised his company and, although he could not reach the objective, he and the remainder of his company stayed close enough to it to gain useful intelligence for the battalion. Another time he was shot through the thigh, but remained at duty despite the wound. His service was regularly noted as a "fine example of bravery, devotion to duty, and self-sacrifice", and he was described as "an inspiration to his men".

In October 1917, Howell-Price was with his battalion in trenches for the last time. As he gave the order to move, an artillery barrage came over and a shell burst near the
place he was last seen. His body was never recovered. He was one of three sons the Howell-Price family lost in the war.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War, and his photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Major Philip Llewellyn Howell-Price, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.