The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of 5124B Private Harold Stanley Newcombe, 33rd 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on 5124B Private Harold Stanley Newcombe, 33rd Battalion, First World War.

5124B Private Harold Stanley Newcombe, 33rd Battalion
KIA 7 June 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 18 May 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Harold Stanley Newcombe, who was killed fighting in Belgium in the First World War.

Harold Newcombe was born in 1896, one of five children of William and Aza Newcombe of Marrickville in New South Wales. Harold attended state school in Newtown, and afterwards worked as a grocer in the inner-Sydney area.

Harold enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at the Royal Australian Showgrounds in Sydney in January 1916, and after several months of training left Australia for the training camps in England as part of the reinforcements for the 17th Battalion in June 1916. Harold spent several months training on the Salisbury Plains and in September 1916 was transferred to the 33rd Battalion. The 33rd Battalion held some of the most highly trained troops of the Australian forces, and proceeded over to France in November 1916.

Harold spent the following months in the relatively quiet Houplines sector, where the patrolling of no man's land and the conducting of trench raids on German positions took place almost every night. The 33rd Battalion grew familiar with the Houplines sector over the following six months, as they had arrived in France too late to take part in the fighting on the Somme.

The first and only battle Harold participated in took place at Messines, just over the border in Belgium, where on 6 June 1917 thousands of British Second Army troops, including the 33rd Battalion, attacked the German positions after 19 underground mines were exploded beneath the enemy trenches. The German positions were captured in what was ultimately a highly successful operation carried out by Second Army, but victory came at an exceptionally heavy cost; II ANZAC lost 13,900 casualties in less than three days of fighting. Among them was Harold Newcombe, who was killed during the 33rd Battalion's assault on the German positions. He was given a battlefield burial and his remains were reinterred after the war at the Bedford House Cemetery in Belgium, where he rests today.

For years after the war, Harold's parents inserted memorial notices in the newspaper on the eve of his death to ensure their son was never forgotten. One such notice read:

He rose responsive to his country's call,
And gave his best - his life, his all.

Harold Newcombe's name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with 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 but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Harold Stanley Newcombe, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.