The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1222) Private John Bernard Leo, 12th Battalion, AIF, 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 Jana Johnson, the story for this day was on (1222) Private John Bernard Leo, 12th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1222 Private John Bernard Leo, 12th Battalion, AIF
KIA 8 August 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 21 June 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private John Bernard Leo.

Born at Railton in Tasmania, Leo was the eldest of 12 children. He was 24 when he enlisted at the end of September 1914, leaving his job as a labourer.

Leo was assigned to the 12th battalion, which was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War. Half of the battalion was recruited in Tasmania, a quarter was recruited in South Australia, and a quarter from Western Australia. With the 9th, 10th and 11th Battalions, it formed the AIF’s 3rd Brigade.

Leo left Melbourne on 22 December 1914. After training in Egypt he was sent to Gallipoli. The 3rd Brigade was the covering force for the Anzac landing on 25 April 1915, and so was the first ashore at around 4.30 am. It was a conspicuous start, and the 12th battalion continued to have a prominent role establishing and defending the Anzac front line on the peninsula.

After the early few weeks of fighting, the Gallipoli campaign had settled into a stalemate that lasted for months. In August, the British and Dominion troops launched a major offensive in an attempt to break the deadlock and achieve victory. The 12th battalion was in the thick of this new push, contributing two companies to the attack on Lone Pine. Private Leo was in one of these companies, and was killed in action on 8 August. The details of his death are not recorded, but the fighting at Lone Pine was among the most brutal of the eight-month-long Gallipoli campaign.

A month after Leo’s death, a simple notice in the family’s local newspaper, the North Western Advocate, recorded his loss. It read: “Killed in action at the Dardenelles, on the 8th of August … Dearly beloved eldest son of Mary Leo, Devonport, aged 25 years.”

In January 1916, the paper reported that Leo’s name was on an honour board that had been mounted in the town hall at the nearby municipal centre of Latrobe, recording him as one of those who had “made the supreme sacrifice and given up their lives in defence of the Empire”. The paper reported that the honour board was made of the “best of Tasmanian timbers”, and the colours used on the board were black to “signify that they mourned for the brave, and gold, to indicate that the memory of the deceased would be precious to them”.

John Leo’s brother, James Francis Leo, also enlisted. He served with the 26th Battalion and was killed on 11 November 1916.

The name of Private John Leo is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with around 60,000 others from the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private John Bernard Leo and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Emma Campbell
Writer, Military History Section