The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3430) Private Francis Martin, 56th 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 (3430) Private Francis Martin, 56th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

3430 Private Francis Martin, 56th Battalion, AIF
Story delivered 29 June 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Francis Martin.

Francis Martin was born in 1880, one of ten children of George and Bessie Martin of High Bray, Devonshire, in England. Known to his family and friends as Frank, he attended boarding school in Devon and afterwards worked as a butler. In 1909, at the age of 29, Frank immigrated to Australia with several members of his family and settled in Toowoomba in the Darling Downs region in Queensland. Here he worked with his brother Percival as a concrete channeller.

Frank enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915. After a period of training in Brisbane, he embarked for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the 9th Battalion. By the time he arrived, the Gallipoli campaign had ended and the AIF was undergoing a period of reorganisation and training in preparation for its departure for the Western Front. As part of this, Frank was transferred to the newly raised 49th Battalion in February 1916. Two months later, he was transferred to another new unit, the 56th Battalion, with which he trained and sailed for France in June 1916.

When Frank arrived in France, Australian troops had spent time in the relatively quiet nursery sector near the town of Armentieres, where they learned the rigours and routine of trench warfare before participating in the Battle of the Somme which was raging further south. Forming part of the 5th Division, the 56th Battalion entered near the village of Fleurbaix and experienced its first taste of combat on the Western Front less than two weeks later.

In an effort to prevent German reserves from moving south to the Somme, the 5th Division would carry out Australia’s first major attack on the Western Front, assaulting the German positions outside the village of Fromelles on the evening of 19 July 1916.

The attack the followed was both costly and unsuccessful for the Australians. Men of the 56th Battalion fought their way into the German trenches amid withering German machine-gun fire and fought to repel fierce and determined counter-attacks throughout the night. The Australians were forced to withdraw, suffering over 5,500 casualties in less than 24 hours of fighting.

Aged 36 at the time, Frank Martin was listed among those killed that night at Fromelles. The historical records do not tell us how Frank died, but we know that his body was recovered from the battlefield and buried at the Anzac Cemetery at nearby Sailly-Sur-La-Lys. The historical records do not tell us how Frank’s death affected the Martin family, but we know that Frank’s loss came at a time when the Martin family was grieving another one of their own. Frank’s younger brother Ned, who was serving in the British Royal Marines Light Infantry, was killed when the HMS Black Prince was sunk at the Battle of Jutland less than a month before Fromelles. Of the four Martin brothers that served in the First World War, only two returned home.

Frank Martin is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

His is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Francis Martin, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section