The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (W42521) Sergeant Zebulun Green, 7th Employment Company, Second 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 Tristan Rallings, the story for this day was on (W42521) Sergeant Zebulun Green, 7th Employment Company, Second World War.

W42521 Sergeant Zebulun Green, 7th Employment Company
Accidentally killed 31 May 1943

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sergeant Zebulun Green.

Zebulun Green, known as “Zeb”, was born on 1 December 1895, the son of George and Bridget Green of Broomehill, Western Australia. The third son in a large family, he was named for his paternal grandfather, Zebulun Green. Little is known of his early life or education until November 1914, when he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force to fight in the First World War.

Zebulun was posted to the 10th Light Horse Regiment, and after a period of training in Australia left for active service overseas in February 1915. He arrived on the Gallipoli peninsula in September, and was spared from participating in the disastrous charge at the Nek. He remained on Gallipoli until the evacuation around Christmas.

Trooper Green remained with his regiment throughout 1916 as they defended against the Ottoman advance on the Suez Canal and went on to drive the Turks across the Sinai. In December he undertook at grenadiers course, but although he proved a “good thrower”, he failed the written course. For the following months he struggled to maintain military discipline, spending a week absent without leave and later using impertinent language while refusing to carry out an order from a superior officer.

Green went on to have months of good behaviour, and then would absent himself or commit some minor offence that would be noted on his service record. His health also suffered and he spent several periods in hospital.

However, despite his occasional lapses in discipline, Green was a good soldier. In 1918, as the 10th Light Horse Regiment worked its way along the Jordan valley, Green was a member of an advanced patrol which opened a ford across the river in the face of heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. During the operation Trooper Viveash was mortally wounded, but Green, “utterly disregarding his own personal safety, carried [him] under cover, rendered first aid and then continued on his task.”

Green was regularly part of the advanced patrol preceding the 10th Light Horse on the advance, and encountered the enemy a number of times. When his regiment encountered the enemy on the Damascus-Aleppo Road, Green was again at the forefront of his squadron’s attack. It was later noted that “by his personal bravery and dash, he did much towards the final capture of the enemy’s rear guard”.

In December 1918 Trooper Green was awarded the Military Medal for his “great bravery” over the preceding months. After the war was over, he spent several months in Egypt before being sent home in July 1919.

In 1920 Zeb Green married Lena Sweetman in Perth. The couple would go on to have six children, including twin girls. Green took up land at Carnamah through the soldier settler scheme, but he later worked in a number of different roles, including as a local contractor. He was a keen member of the Carnamah Football Club, and was known for his “good fellowship and popularity in the district.” He referred to his time in Carnamah as one of the happiest in his life.

Although a gregarious man, active in local concerts, parties, and cricket matches, Green also struggled on occasion. While working as a wheat lumper in 1929, he had a crisis and went missing for over a week, having stated “his intention to do away with himself”. He recovered and returned to his family, however, and continued to provide for them.

By the 1940s Green and his family were living in Gunyidi, where Zeb was working in railway construction. War had broken out, and in April 1940 he again applied to enlist for service. Although he was 44 years old at the time, he was accepted for active service and posted to the 3rd Railway Company of the Royal Australian Engineers. Despite his original application to work in Australia only, in May he was sent to the United Kingdom, and from there to the Middle East, where he served at Tobruk. He was sent back to Australia in August 1941, and discharged as medically unfit for further service in early November 1941.

Within a week, Zeb Green had re-enlisted and was accepted for service with the Australian Army Labour Service. He spent months based in Claremont where, in May 1942 he was promoted to lance corporal. At the end of the year he was transferred to the 7th Australian Employment Company, a unit of Chinese labourers formed in Fremantle. The following November he was promoted to sergeant and was sent with his company to Queensland, where he continued working near Mount Isa.

In the early hours of 31 May 1943, Sergeant Green was on duty near an emulsion plant at Mount Isa when he was hit by a truck driven by an Australian driver from a neighbouring general transport company. Severely injured, he died later that afternoon.

On 10 June 1943, Zeb’s eldest son Geoff put a notice in the local paper in memory of his father. It reads: “loving husband of Lena, father of Geoff, Monica, Rex … Elvie, Judy and Jill … One of the best.” Zeb Green, veteran of two world wars, was buried in the Adelaide River War Cemetery in the Northern Territory, aged 46.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Sergeant Zebulun Green, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section