The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4565) Sergeant Thomas Archibald Peady, 15th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery, 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 (4565) Sergeant Thomas Archibald Peady, 15th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery, First World War.

4565 Sergeant Thomas Archibald Peady, 15th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery
DOW 4 September 1918
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 14 August 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sergeant Thomas Archibald Peady.

Thomas Peady was born in Auckland, New Zealand, but moved with his family to Ballarat as a child. He completed a five-year apprenticeship there to become a pastry cook, and was an active member of his community, being well known in the YMCA, the Neil Street Methodist Church, the Druids Lodge, and the local rowing club. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915 at the age of 23, and left Australia with reinforcements to the 8th Battalion.

Peady spent time training in Egypt and France with the 8th and 58th battalions. In July 1916 he transferred to the 15th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery. These muzzle-loaded weapons fired bombs a short distance on a high trajectory and were an important part of the firepower available on the Western Front in the First World War.

Peady proved to be an able member of the trench mortar battery and was quickly promoted to corporal and later to sergeant. As a non-commissioned officer he was regularly given the task of leading a section of the battery in the front line. Sergeant Peady was known as someone “characterised by courage and ability in all work that has been entrusted to him”. He showed ongoing exceptional devotion to duty at all times, as well as great bravery and self-control under difficult conditions in the front line.

He was a good leader of men, and was known for helping the officers in his battery to keep the men together, inspiring them with his cool and cheerful bearing under heavy fire. Aside from one period of leave to England, and a short period to recover from a wound to his face, Peady did not leave the battery during the two years he served with them.

In mid-1918 Peady’s constant good service, in particular his service during the operations at Broodseinde Ridge in October 1917, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. During this period the trench mortars were very much in use. The German line was being pushed back faster than it had been at any other time in the war, and mortars were often the first form of heavier firepower to arrive in newly advanced positions.

In late August 1918 Sergeant Peady was in the line with his battery when he was hit in the back and legs by gun fire. It took some time to get this fearless man to a field hospital, and when he finally arrived his condition was considered serious, with the wounds having turned gangrenous. He died after just a few days in hospital, and is buried in France.

His 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 but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Sergeant Thomas Archibald Peady, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.