The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1068) Lance Sergeant Alfred Eric Thring Druitt, 25th 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (1068) Lance Sergeant Alfred Eric Thring Druitt, 25th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1068 Lance Sergeant Alfred Eric Thring Druitt, 25th Battalion, AIF
KIA: 5 August 1916

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Sergeant Alfred Eric Thring Druitt.

Alfred Druitt, known by his second name “Eric”, was born in 1891 to Alfred and Susannah Druitt of New South Wales. He was one of eight children born to the couple; one of his siblings died in infancy. Eric was born in Wauchope, near Port Macquarie, but later moved with his family to Kempsey, where his father worked as town clerk. He was educated at the West Kempsey District School, and later at Hereford House in Sydney, where he trained to be a school teacher.
In 1914 Eric married 16-year-old Olive Best in St Peter’s Church. The marriage was later annulled. Olive put out a warrant for Eric’s arrest for failing to provide for a child in 1915, but there is little evidence that a child had been born to her.

Eric Druitt went to Queensland, where he worked as a commission agent. He was there for just a short time before going to Enoggera to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force. His brother John had enlisted a few weeks earlier, and the two left Australia together in June 1915 with the 25th Battalion. The brothers were first sent to Egypt, where they continued training in the desert before being sent to Gallipoli.

Private Eric Druitt arrived on the Gallipoli peninsula in early September 1915, shortly after the end of the August offensives. In December he was promoted to corporal, and remained on the peninsula until the evacuation a few weeks later. He arrived in Alexandria on the 9th of January 1916.

After further training in Egypt, the 25th Battalion was sent to France to fight on the battlefields of the Western Front. Landing on 19 March 1916, it was the first battalion of the AIF to arrive at Marseilles, but it would not take part in a major operation until July.

On 28 July 1916, days after the capture of the French village of Pozieres, the 25th Battalion took part in an operation to secure two strongly held German trenches to the north-east and east of the village. Rushed into the attack with little time for preparation, the Australians failed, suffering heavy casualties on the uncut barbed wire. Eric Druitt, who had been promoted to lance sergeant a fortnight before, was one of the few to come through the operation, although there is some evidence he may have been wounded.

Less than a week later the 25th Battalion was called on to again attempt to capture the German lines near Pozieres. This time the battalion would be successful, but it was a hard-won fight with severe casualties again. This time Private Eric Druitt would not survive. Although the manner of his death went unrecorded, his body was removed from the battlefield and today he lies in the Pozieres British Cemetery at Ovillers-La Boiselle. He was 26 years old.
During his time overseas, Eric wrote home regularly, a series of letters “full of brightness and hope”. It was reported that “his chief desire was to ease the mind of his mother”, and prevent her from worrying about him. His last letter arrived home the day after they received the cable announcing his death.

The name of Albert Eric Druitt 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 Lance Sergeant Alfred Eric Thring Druitt, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section