The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (856) Private Alvin Victor Phillips, 9th 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (856) Private Alvin Victor Phillips, 9th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

856 Private Alvin Victor Phillips, 9th Battalion, AIF
KIA 20 April 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 15 December 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Alvin Victor Phillips.

Alvin Phillips was born in 1892 in Maldon, Victoria. He grew up in Maldon and went to junior school there before attending the Gravel Hill State School in Bendigo, where for three years he was also a member of the senior cadets. After leaving school Phillips obtained work as a miner at the Little 180 and Virginia mines in Bendigo. By 1914 he had moved to Queensland, and was working in a mine at Mount Morgan when the war began.

Prior to his enlistment, Phillips ran afoul of the law and was brought before the police magistrate at Mount Morgan on a charge of theft. He was released with a suspended sentence and on a good behaviour bond. Three days later enlisted for service in the AIF.

He joined the 9th Battalion, and on arriving at Enoggera Camp was posted to the battalion’s C Company. After some initial training he embarked with his unit from Brisbane on 24 September aboard the transport ship Omrah.

Arriving in Egypt in November, Phillips began several months of training in the desert sands before being transferred with his battalion to Lemnos to prepare for the Gallipoli campaign. He was among the first wave of troops ashore in the pre-dawn hours of 25 April, but at some stage during that first day he was wounded and evacuated.

Phillips returned to his battalion in May and remained on Gallipoli until early September, when he was evacuated back to Egypt with dysentery.

He took several months to recover, and was still on light duties when the 9th Battalion left Gallipoli in November.

He re-joined his battalion on its return to Egypt in early January 1916, and sailed with it for France and the Western Front at the end of March.
By 19 April the 9th Battalion was in reserve billets near Rouge-de-Bout, one mile behind the front line in the Armentières or “nursery” sector. Intermittent artillery fire was landing nearby.

The next afternoon, tragedy struck when the battalion’s C Company billets were heavily shelled. One shell landed outside a canvas tent, wounding four. As men went to assist, another shell landed, killing
several men and wounding others. A further shell hit a brick wall of a nearby billet, causing a further 47 casualties. C Company was decimated, suffering 50 wounded and another 25 men killed, one of whom was Phillips. Several other men would die from their wounds over the ensuing days.

Later that day the fallen men of C Company were laid to rest in the Rue-Du-Bacquerot (13th London) Graveyard at Laventie.

Alvin Phillips was 24 years old. His 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 service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Alvin Victor Phillips, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in
service of our nation.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section