The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2704) Private Alfred George Moss, 24th Australian Infantry 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 Michael Kelly, the story for this day was on (2704) Private Alfred George Moss, 24th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

2704 Private Alfred George Moss, 24th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
DOW 15 September 1918
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 24 October 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Alfred George Moss.

Born in Numurkah in Victoria, Moss and his family later moved to Beechworth, where his father was the stationmaster. He had a strong Christian faith and was active within the Salvation Army, being a bandsman and a candidate for officer.

Moss was 23 and working at a fruit-canning factory when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915. He was assigned to the 24th Battalion, and sailed for Egypt that October. The following march the battalion proceeded to France, and Moss was transferred to a training battalion and then an entrenching battalion.

Moss returned to the 24th Battalion in early August, just in time for the battle for Mouquet Farm. He was wounded during the offensive and was sent to England to recuperate. There he received a letter from General Birdwood, the commander of the Australian corps. It was published in Moss’s local newspaper on 24 February 1917, and read, in part:

I do hope that you really are going on alright, and you may be quite sure we will welcome you back very heartily, when you can rejoin, as we shall want all the boys we can get to help during the hard time I fear we must all of us expect in the winter … In spite of all the cold and wet, however, I have heard no grumbling, and I am sure the boys are all determined to carry on, until we have finally defeated these Germans. With good wishes to you and any other of our boys who are in the same hospital …

Moss re-joined his battalion in late October 2017, having just missed out on the battle of Broodseinde Ridge in Belguim. He saw through winter
with his unit, serving in and out of the front line and undertaking training and patrols.

In late March 1918 Moss suffered gas poisoning, and again went to England to recover, not returning to his battalion until July.

As part of the allied counter-offensives on the Western Front that summer the 24th Battalion was among the Australian units that stormed, seized, and held the key height of Mont St. Quentin, a pivotal German defensive position on the line of the Somme. On the 1st of September Moss was wounded in the battle, shot in the chest. He died two weeks later, on 15 September, and was buried in the St Sever Cemetery Extension in upper Normandy, France.

Moss’s younger brother Bruce also served in the First World War, with the 37th Battalion. He suffered gas poisoning in 1917, but recovered and went on to survive the war.

Private Moss’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 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 Alfred George Moss and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Emma Campbell
Writer, Military History Section