The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1964) Acting Corporal Henry Charles Mailey, 17th 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 Chirs Widenbar, the story for this day was on (1964) Acting Corporal Henry Charles Mailey, 17th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1964 Acting Corporal Henry Charles Mailey, 17th Battalion, AIF
KIA 26 September 1916

Today we remember and pay tribute to Acting Corporal Henry Charles Mailey.

Henry Mailey was born in 1888, the youngest son of John and Jane Mailey of the Sydney suburb of Waterloo. He attended Waterloo Public School, and later worked as a bottle packer.

Mailey enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 14 June 1915, and after three months training, sailed from Sydney aboard the transport ship Runic as part of the reinforcements of the 17th Infantry Battalion. He sailed to Egypt, and after a brief period of further training sailed to Gallipoli, where he joined his unit on 8 December 1915. He arrived at the end of the Gallipoli campaign, and was there for a matter of days before his unit was evacuated to Egypt.

In Egypt, the AIF went through a process known as the “doubling of the AIF”, with a large influx of new recruits from Australia being mixed with veterans from Gallipoli to ensure the rapidly expanding Australian forces had a good mix of experience throughout its units.

On 17 March 1916, Mailey sailed for France and the war on the Western Front.

His first taste of major battle came in July during the bloody battle of Pozieres. Mailey and the 2nd Australian Division, of which he was part, were sent in to replace the badly depleted 1st Division after a series of deadly attacks on the German lines. The 2nd Division suffered terrible casualties, and in 12 days lost nearly 7,000 men.

Following the devastation at Pozieres, Mailey and his comrades moved north for a period of rest and recuperation in the Ypres sector of Belgium, which at this time was considered to be relatively quiet. Mailey showed himself to be a capable soldier, and on the 10th of August was promoted to acting corporal.

On the afternoon of 26 September 1916, Mailey was helping to build a parapet in a support trench about a kilometre south-east of Ypres when the area came under heavy German shrapnel and high explosive artillery fire. Mailey was one of three Australian soldiers of the 17th Battalion killed in the attack. He was 28 years old.

His body was removed from the trenches and buried later that day. He now lies in the Railway Dugouts Burial Ground near Ypres, along with over 2,000 casualties of the First World War.

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 Acting Corporal Henry Charles Mailey, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section