The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3547) Private Leslie Harold Raward, 53rd 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 Robyn Siers, the story for this day was on (3547) Private Leslie Harold Raward, 53rd Battalion, First World War.

3547 Private Leslie Harold Raward, 53rd Battalion
DOW 17 July 1918
Photograph: P08624.372

Story delivered 20 August 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Leslie Harold Raward, whose photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

Leslie Raward was born in Perth, Western Australia. His parents died when he was an infant and he was sent to New South Wales to be adopted by Mr and Mrs W. Raward, who raised him as their own. Leslie attended school in Goulburn, where he befriended Leslie Bugg. The two became firm friends. After school, Raward moved to Sydney and became a mattress maker. In 1915 he married Ethel Reilly and the two had a son, Percy.

In that same year Les Raward and his best mate Les Bugg enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. They had decided to enlist and stick together, and did so. Before they left, Raward said to Les Bugg’s father, “We have been school-mates together, have grown up together, and if need be we will die together!”

Les Raward and Les Bugg were both posted to the 3rd Battalion and sent to Egypt, where they transferred to the 53rd Battalion. After a period of training in the desert, the two were sent with their battalion to France.

On 19 July 1916 the 53rd Battalion participated in its first set-piece battle on the Western Front near a small French village called Fromelles. The operation was a disaster and the 5th Australian Division, of which the 53rd Battalion was a part, suffered over 5,500 casualties. Les Raward never made it to the battle. On 17 July, two days before the disaster at Fromelles, Private Raward was hit in the thigh by a large piece of shell. Although he was carried to a dressing station, there was little anyone could do for him and he died shortly afterwards.

Raward’s best mate Les Bugg went missing around the same time as Raward was killed. Some reports suggest that he, too, was hit by shrapnel on the same day and died of his wounds at a dressing station. In the absence of further evidence, a court of inquiry determined that Bugg had been killed in action and gave the date 19 July 1916. His body was never recovered.

Les Raward was buried in Anzac Cemetery in the Pas de Calais, France. He, like his best mate, was 24 years old.

Raward’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with 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 Private Leslie Harold Raward, his best mate Private Leslie James Bugg, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.