The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (16866) Driver Harry Thomas Willoughby Ford, 4th Field Company Engineers, 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (16866) Driver Harry Thomas Willoughby Ford, 4th Field Company Engineers, First World War.

16866 Driver Harry Thomas Willoughby Ford, 4th Field Company Engineers
DOD 10 November 1918
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 17 May 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Driver Harry Thomas Willoughby Ford, who died of illness in France in the First World War.

Harry Ford was born in 1891, one of four children to Samuel and Annie Ford of Paddington, New South Wales. His father left when Harry was five years old, and he and his siblings were raised solely by his mother. After schooling, Harry worked as a printer in Elizabeth Street in Sydney.

Harry's brother Burton had enlisted in the AIF in 1915 and fought on the Western Front, where he was wounded at Pozières - this was likely why Harry enlisted at Victoria Barracks in October 1916. After a period of training at the camp established at the Sydney Showgrounds, Harry left Australia in February 1917 with a reinforcement group for the Field Company Engineers. He spent several more months training on Salisbury Plains in Wiltshire after arriving in England, and in December 1917 embarked for France and the fighting on the Western Front.

Harry was posted to the 4th Field Company Engineers, which was a unit responsible for constructing trenches, dugouts, communication saps, and roads so that the infantry could carry out its task in fighting the Germans. Harry joined his unit after the costly campaign in Belgium where 38,000 Australian casualties had been incurred attempting to capture the village of Passchendaele. In March and April 1918 Harry was among those Australians who helped blunt enemy troops advancing on Amiens during the German Spring Offensive, and participated in the allied offensive that pushed them back beyond the Hindenburg Line. Having broken through the Hindenburg Line, and with the end of the war in sight, the Australians were pulled out of the line and given a sorely needed period of rest and recuperation.

At the start of November 1918 the 4th Field Company Engineers were being transported to Saisseval, having recently completed construction on a parade ground at the Australian Corps School at St Firman. On 3 November Harry took himself to a field ambulance station suffering from influenza, which worsened over the following days. He was evacuated to a field hospital further to the rear at Étretat, where his conditioned rapidly deteriorated. On 10 November, the day before the Armistice signifying the end of hostilities in the First World War, Harry Ford succumbed to his illness. He was buried in the churchyard at Étretat, where he rests today.

Harry's name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War. There is no photograph in the Memorial's collection to display beside the Pool of Reflection.

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