The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3851) Private Roland Seccombe, 15th 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (3851) Private Roland Seccombe, 15th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

3851 Private Roland Seccombe, 15th Battalion, AIF
KIA 8 August 1916
Story delivered 20 July 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Roland Seccombe.

Roland Seccombe – known as “Rolly” – was born in 1887 in Tilba Tilba, near Moruya in New South Wales. He was one of 15 children born to John and Ellen Seccombe. Roland attended the local public school in Tilba Tilba before the family moved to Coff’s Harbour, where he went on to work at various contracting positions as a bushman. His father later wrote that he was “noted for great physical strength and personal courage”.

Seccombe enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in August 1915. He underwent a period of training in Australia before embarking for active service on board the troopship Suffolk in November 1915, sailing with reinforcements to the 15th Battalion. Seccombe first went to Egypt, where he continued training, before being sent on to France to fight on the Western Front.

The 15th Battalion’s first major engagement in France was near the French village of Pozieres. By early August, the war diary notes, the 15th was “very busy preparing and training for [the] class of fighting we will have to do … schooling every man as to what we hope to do.” At 3 pm on 5 August 1916, the battalion received word to move out into the front line.

Private Roland Seccombe and the men of the 15th Battalion entered the battlefield under a series of heavy artillery barrages that blocked their progress, and it took hours to get into position. Once there, they continued to hold the line under heavy fire, despite German counter attacks against the Australian battalions on their flanks.

On the evening of 8 August 1916, the 15th Battalion participated in an operation to capture German positions near Pozieres. Private Seccombe was carrying bombs for the bombing platoon’s commanding officer, and reportedly “threw plenty of bombs himself”. Once they reached the German lines, Seccombe bayonetted one enemy, then punched another who turned and ran away. Seccombe gave chase, and bayonetted the second man and continued after more. The last anyone saw of him, he was, in the words of a witness, “far in advance of the others, throwing bombs everywhere”.

Private Seccombe’s identity disc was handed in the following day, and he was reported missing. His exact fate was never determined. Private John Ethell, a friend of Roland’s who was serving with the 23rd Battalion, later wrote to John Seccombe in Coff’s Harbour, saying “words simply cannot express my thoughts tonight, and really I don’t know how I am going to write at all … this morning I went across to inquire for Rolly and was horrified to hear he had been killed … but what a glorious death, fighting for King and Country. If I have to die, let it be a death similar, killing Huns.” John Ethell was killed in action the following year.

Roland Seccombe’s body was not been identified in the years following the war, and today he is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. He was 27 years old.

His name 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 Roland Seccombe, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section