The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (7534) Sergeant Harris Martin Sharp, 2nd Infantry 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 Jennifer Surtees, the story for this day was on (7534) Sergeant Harris Martin Sharp, 2nd Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

7534 Sergeant Harris Martin Sharp, 2nd Infantry Battalion, AIF
KIA 24 June 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sergeant Harris Martin Sharp.

Harris Sharp was born on 18 September 1895, the eldest of five sons born to Joseph and Alice Sharp of Hamilton, near Newcastle in New South Wales. Sharp attended a local school in Hamilton, before moving with his family to live in the Sydney suburb of Tempe. There he attended Sydney Boys’ High School, and later worked as a clerk. Sharp was also active in local militia forces. He served for three years as a cadet, and three years in the Citizens’ Militia Forces. He also served for two years as a staff sergeant major with the Australian Instructional Forces.

Sharp enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 15 February 1917 and began training at Liverpool in Sydney’s south.

On 14 June 1917, he embarked from Sydney aboard the transport ship Hororata with reinforcements for the 2nd Infantry Battalion. Two months later, he arrived in England and continued training. On account of his previous military experience, he attained the rank of sergeant on enlistment, and was made sergeant in command at the school of instruction at the Jellalabad Barracks in Taunton. After two short stints in hospital with bronchitis and a throat infection, Sharp departed from England on 30 January 1918, bound for France and the war on the Western Front.
Sharp joined B Company of the 2nd Infantry Battalion when they were training and resting behind the lines near Meteren, in northern France near the border with Belgium. He spent the next five months experiencing the horrors and hardships of trench warfare. Sharp and his unit spent their time either in relief behind the lines, or manning the front line and enduring intermittent German artillery, gas, and machine-gun fire.

From March 1918 onwards, Sharp and the 2nd Battalion faced increased enemy artillery fire and occasional raids that formed part of the Spring Offensive, Germany’s last attempt to break the stalemate on the Western Front and end the war.

At 12:30 am on 24 June, Sharp and the 2nd Battalion conducted an attack on German lines designed to straighten out part of the front line near Meteren, in northern France. The attack was a success for the Australian forces: they gained all their objectives, inflicted heavy losses on the Germans, took 13 prisoners of war, and captured five German machine-guns as trophies.
Sharp and his platoon had successfully reached their objective and were digging in when Sharp was struck by a high explosive German shell, killing him instantly. He was 22 years old.

He is buried in the La Kreule Military Cemetery in France, where nearly 600 soldiers of the First World War now lie.
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 Sergeant Harris Martin Sharp, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section