The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Lieutenant Alfred Herbert Bond, 44th 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on Lieutenant Alfred Herbert Bond, 44th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Lieutenant Alfred Herbert Bond, 44th Battalion, AIF
DOW: 12 October 1917

Story delivered 13 October 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Alfred Herbert Bond.

Alfred Herbert Bond was born in Sydney in 1888, the eldest son of Ernest and Emma Bond of Wooroowoolgen, near Casino in New South Wales. When the First World War began, Alfred was living in Western Australia with his wife Lavena and working as a hardware assistant.

Alfred Bond enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in August 1915, and after undergoing an extended period of training, during which he reached the rank of sergeant, embarked from Fremantle for England in June 1916. Alfred was in the 44th Battalion, part of the 11th Brigade of the 3rd Australian Division, a unit known as “Old Bill’s Thousand” after its commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel William Mansbridge. Bond arrived in England in July 1916, where he undertook further training before departing for France and the Western Front. Alfred and the 44th Division arrived at the front just in time for the terrible winter of 1916 and 1917, and spent their first three months either manning the front lines, or resting and training behind the lines. During this period, Alfred clearly distinguished himself, and he was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on 17 January.

On 13 March, sections of the 44th Battalion took part in a daring raid near Armentières in northern France. At 11.40 pm, with the support of rolling-barrage artillery and smoke-screen fire, Australian troops began an attack on German trenches. In incredibly muddy conditions, the troops moved nearly 50 metres across no man’s land before reaching German barbed wire. They then came under extremely heavy German machine-gun and high-explosive artillery fire that inflicted severe casualties. They tried to press forward towards the enemy lines, but a flooded ditch blocked their progress. Only the southern flank of the attack was able to enter the enemy trenches. The attack was a fiasco, and shortly after it began, battalion commanders ordered Australian troops to withdraw.

During the raid, in the midst of heavy German fire, Bond organised a small party to rescue two wounded comrades. As he was returning, he noticed a 17-man German patrol seeking to disrupt Australian actions. He immediately organised a fighting patrol, returned to no man’s land, and, despite the heavy machine-gun fire, successfully drove off the Germans, allowing the wounded men to escape. His superior officer wrote of his conduct: “in his gallantry and devotion to duty, he is worthy of every commendation. He set a magnificent example to his men.”

In June 1917, Bond took part in the battle of Messines in Belgium and was wounded in a gas attack. His injuries were so severe that he spent nearly three months recovering in hospital.

Bond returned to his unit on 1 September 1917, and ten days later was promoted to lieutenant. On 6 October, the 44th Battalion was taking part in an attack on German lines at Poperinghe, near Ypres, when it came under heavy German artillery and machine-gun fire.

Bond received a gunshot wound to the back that fractured his pelvis. He was immediately sent to the 11th Australian Field Ambulance, and his injuries were so severe that he was eventually sent to a major military hospital in Boulogne. But he was unable to recover from his injuries, and died on 12 October.

Survived by his grieving wife, Lavena, and infant child, Mavis, who would never know her father, Alfred Bond was 30 years old.

At the time of his death, Alfred’s brother Douglas was recovering from gunshot wounds to his head and shoulder in a nearby field hospital. Douglas would survive the war.
Alfred is buried in Boulogne Eastern Cemetery, along with over 5,500 Commonwealth soldiers of the First World War.

Lieutenant Alfred Herbert Bond 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 Lieutenant Alfred

Herbert Bond, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section