The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (6549) Private George Frederick Reynolds, 6th Battalion, 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 Walker, the story for this day was on (6549) Private George Frederick Reynolds, 6th Battalion, First World War.

6549 Private George Frederick Reynolds, 6th Battalion
KIA 4 October 1917
Story delivered 23 September 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private George Frederick Reynolds.

George Reynolds was born in 1898, one of five children of Sidney and Henrietta Reynolds of Mulwala in the Southern Riverina in New South Wales. In the years before the war, he attended Mulwala Public School, paraded with senior cadets, and worked as a farm labourer.

George enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at the nearby town of Yarrawonga in August 1916, and after several weeks training at Broadmeadows Camp, sailed for England with a reinforcement group for the 6th Battalion in October 1916. Once there, he undertook further training as a Lewis gunner on the Salisbury Plain, before embarking for France.

George joined the 6th Battalion as it rested near Albert in January 1917 after participating in the bitter fighting at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm. After a brief spell in Belgium, the battalion returned to the Somme, where it held positions between the villages of Flers and Gueudecourt throughout the following winter. The 6th Battalion pursued the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line near the town of Bullecourt, then fought for its possession throughout April and May. Afterwards, when the focus of British operations shifted north into Belgium, the 6th Battalion participated in the attack at Menin Road on 20 September 1917 and helped to consolidate ground gained from a number of Australian attacks made towards the high ground near the town of Passchendaele.

One of those attacks took place at Broodseinde on the morning of 4 October 1917. Here the 6th Battalion advanced behind a creeping barrage put down by British and Australian artillery and captured a number of key German positions, including Remus Wood and the Broodseinde Road. They and the other battalions of the 1st Division succeeded in reaching their objectives – which paved the way for further gains to be made in the approaches towards Passchendaele. Success did, however, come at a cost, with 200 men of the 6th Battalion becoming casualties that day. Among them was George Reynolds, who was listed as killed in action.

Sadly, the historical records tell us nothing about how George met his final moments. Aged 19 when he died, his body was never recovered from the battlefield. Today his name appears on the Menin Gate Memorial alongside over 6,000 Australians killed in Belgium with no known grave.

Never knowing what had happened to their son haunted George’s parents. His mother, Henrietta, wrote to AIF Base records in 1920, hoping that they could provide her with some morsel of information of what had happened to her son. “I never [seemed] to hear anything,” she explained. “It is just like as if he went away & was killed & forgotten by all he knew.” Other than a reassurance that George would be commemorated in Belgium, Sidney and Henrietta died without knowing where their son was buried.

George Reynold’s 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.

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

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section