The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Second Lieutenant Harold William Wilthew, 31st 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 Dennis Stockman, the story for this day was on Second Lieutenant Harold William Wilthew, 31st Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Second Lieutenant Harold William Wilthew, 31st Battalion, AIF
KIA 4 November 1916

Story delivered 5 August 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Harold Wilthew.

Harold William Wilthew was born in 1893, one of three children of William and Mary of the Sydney suburb of Balmain. Little is known about Harold’s early years, but we do know that he was very close with his older sister, Ethel, when their parents were temporarily residing in New Zealand.

Harold was a champion sprinter in cycling, having had won the Eastern Suburbs Championship in 1913 and once competed in the 48-hour cycling team at Sydney Showground. Well known within the Australian cycling community, he moved to Yeppoon in Queensland in the years before the war where he raced as an active member of the Queensland Cycling Union.

Harold Wilthew enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Rockhampton in July 1915, and after a period of training at Enoggera on the outskirts of Brisbane, was sent to Broadmeadows Camp near Melbourne, where he formed part of the newly raised 31st Battalion. Promoted to corporal, Harold embarked for Egypt in November, and spent the following months training near Cairo in preparation for the battalion’s transfer to the fighting on the Western Front. Harold’s leadership skills were recognised by his superiors, and he was promoted, first to sergeant, then to company quartermaster sergeant, before the battalion sailed for France in June 1916.

After just two weeks in France, the 31st Battalion took part in the AIF’s first major action on the Western Front. On 19-20 July 1916, the battalion participated in the Australian 5th Division’s costly and unsuccessful action at Fromelles which resulted in 5,500 casualties in less than 24 hours. Harold survived the action unscathed, but wrote home afterwards describing “a rather severe action” that “lasted for 18 hours.

We remained in the trenches for [a further] 18 days with practically no sleep … I did pretty well during the days of fighting and was complimented on my work by our colonel and general.” Harold’s leadership abilities were again recognised by his superiors in August 1916 when he was commissioned as second lieutenant.

Harold remained in the Fromelles area until November, when the battalion was transferred to the Somme. Here the Australians held the line near the villages of Flers and Gueudecourt during the coldest winter in Europe for 40 years. There were few attacks made during this bleak and miserable period, and the mud, rain, and frostbite proved to be far greater enemies than the German army.

The Germans did, however, continue to shell the Australian positions throughout their time in the Flers sector. On 4 November 1916, during what was otherwise a relatively quiet time for the Australians, a gas shell landed in an Australian communication trench near a position known as Factory Corner, collapsing a dugout in which a number of B Company officers and NCOs were sheltering. Among the men recovered from the debris was Harold Wilthew, who had been killed instantly.

He was buried at a makeshift cemetery near Factory Corner. After the war, his body was reinterred at the AIF Burial Ground Cemetery near the village of Flers, where he rests today.

He was 23 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died while serving in 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 Second Lieutenant Harold William Wilthew, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section