The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (922) Private Josiah Thomas, 22nd 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 (922) Private Josiah Thomas, 22nd Battalion, AIF, First World War.

922 Private Josiah Thomas, 22nd Battalion, AIF
DOW 31 July 1916
Story delivered 7 July 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Josiah Thomas.

Josiah Thomas was born in 1895, the son of Josiah and Henrietta Thomas of Melbourne. Educated at Wesley College in Melbourne, Josiah’s father was a well-known and respected miner who had been elected president of the Broken Hill Amalgamated Miner’s Association. Josiah the elder went on to enter politics, and held the Federal seat for Barrier in the Fisher Government. After completing his schooling, the younger Josiah found work as a boundary rider and farmer before enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force in Melbourne January 1915.

Aged 19 at the time, Josiah received his father’s written permission to volunteer for overseas service. After a period of training at Broadmeadows military camp, he embarked for Egypt as an original member of the 22nd Battalion in May 1915. After further training at Mena Camp near Cairo, he and the rest of the 22nd Battalion landed on Gallipoli in late August where they defended the northern Anzac beachhead for the remainder of the campaign. Returning to Egypt after the evacuation from Gallipoli in December, Josiah had a brief brush with military law when he was found guilty of being absent without leave for two days and was docked five days’ pay.

After further training in Egypt, where the AIF underwent a period of reorganisation and training, the 22nd Battalion sailed for France and the battlefields of the Western Front in March 1916. Forming part of the 2nd Division, the 22nd were among the first Australian troops to file into the trenches of the new operational theatre and did so in the relatively quiet nursery sector outside the town of Armentieres. Here, the Australians leaned the rigours and routine of fighting in France and carried out trench raids and patrols on the German positions. In early July, they shifted south to the Somme to take part in the British offensive then raging in that sector.

The 22nd Battalion fought its first major action on the Western Front at Pozieres on 27 July 1916 in a costly and unsuccessful attempt to capture a fortified German position to the east of the village. Josiah was seriously wounded, and was evacuated to a casualty clearance station at Puchevillers where he died four days later. Aged just 21, Josiah was buried at the Puchevillers British Cemetery.

Josiah Thomas is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 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 Private Josiah Thomas, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section