The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Lieutenant Thomas Joseph Parker, 4th Div Signals Company, 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 Ricard Cruise, the story for this day was on Lieutenant Thomas Joseph Parker, 4th Div Signals Company, AIF, First World War.

Lieutenant Thomas Joseph Parker, 4th Div Signals Company, AIF
DOW 12 October 1917

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Thomas Joseph Parker.
Thomas Parker was born in Bendigo, Victoria on 6 September 1883, the son of John and Emma Parker. Known as “Tom” to his family and friends, he attended St Kilian’s School in Bendigo before enlisting in the Australian army in 1901, at the age of 18.

A professional soldier, Parker had risen to the rank of staff sergeant major in the 8th Australian Infantry Regiment before the outbreak of the First World War. Due to his military experience, when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force he received his commission as a second lieutenant.

Parker joined the 3rd Division Signal Company and sailed for England on board the transport ship Ascanius in May 1916. He undertook training for four months in England, and was promoted to lieutenant before sailing for France in November.

The Signal Company was responsible for the 3rd Division’s communication. They often worked alongside engineers and pioneers units, digging communication trenches, laying electrical cable and connecting officers with telephones. They maintained the division’s motorcycles, which were used by information carriers, and moving officers around the battlefield. The Signal Company also trained and handled the division’s carrier pigeons, which were trained to relay messages quickly and accurately.

Parker began working with the 3rd Division in December, when the unit was stationed at Steenwerck in northern France, enduring cold and wet weather. The division suffered from heavy German artillery bombardment and the Signal Company had to repair wires that had been cut during the shelling. Towards the end of the year, the mud froze, making the work of laying electrical cable even more difficult.

In May 1917, Parker was transferred to the 4th Division Signal Company and attached to the 13th Brigade Headquarters. Remaining in the north of France, he and the signallers supported the infantry and artillery as they made their way towards the border with Belgium. In September, the Third Battle of Ypres began, with the Commonwealth forces attempting to push the Germans out of the Flanders region altogether. This involved an offensive to take the village of Passchendaele and the high ground around it in early October.

During the fighting, Parker and the 4th Division Signal Company were stationed at Zonnebeke north-east of Ypres. Brigade headquarters were situated in a captured German pillbox, a concrete bunker on what had been renamed Anzac Ridge by the Australians. In the afternoon of 12 October 1917, Parker and a chaplain, Father Bergin, were standing at the doorway of the headquarters when a German shell exploded nearby, killing both men. Thomas Parker was 34 years old.

He was survived by his widow Ada and his mother Emma. His commanding officer later wrote to Ada, remembering Parker as “a cheery, excellent old chap and as brave as a lion—a soldier every inch of him”. Thomas Parker is buried at Ypres Reservoir Military Cemetery in Belgium, where more than 2,500 Commonwealth soldiers are buried or commemorated.

Lieutenant Thomas Joseph Parker is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 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
Lieutenant Thomas Joseph Parker, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Thomas Rogers
Historian, Military History Section