The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (367) Corporal Charles Vince Carr, 13th 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (367) Corporal Charles Vince Carr, 13th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

367 Corporal Charles Vince Carr, 13th Battalion, AIF
DOW 12 August 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal Charles Vince Carr.

Charles Carr, known as “Charlie”, was born on 1 March 1894 to Albert and Eliza Carr of New South Wales. Like his father, he was born in Bathurst, where his father worked as a cabman, driving a hackney cab. Charlie was educated at the Bathurst public school, and went on to work as a labourer. When he was 13 years old he fell from a crate trolley at the Bathurst Iceworks, breaking his arm and cutting his face. The family later moved to Parramatta, where Albert continued to work as a cabman, and Charlie’s grandfather Vince, after whom he was named, worked as proprietor of the Red Cow Inn. Charlie was a member of the Cumberland Brass Band, and did three years training in the local regiment of the Citizens’ Militia.

Charlie Carr enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in September 1914, a few weeks after the outbreak of war. He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas with the 13th Battalion on 22 December 1914. He later described the voyage as “like going over to Manly, the voyage was so smooth [with] hardly a ripple on the water.”

Private Carr was first sent to Egypt where he trained in the desert camps outside of Cairo. He was particularly impressed to see the artillery firing at practice targets, writing, “It would surprise you to hear the shells whistling overhead. They could not have given us a better illustration of warfare than what they did.” Unfortunately, like some soldiers, he contracted a venereal disease while in Cairo. He was put into a detention and isolation camp at Abbassia, and sent home to Australia on 26 May 1915. He was confined to the camp hospital for venereal diseases in Langwarrin, Victoria, along with hundreds of other soldiers sent home.

After being discharged from Langwarrin in August 1915, Carr returned to Seymour Camp where he continued training until he was fit to return to the AIF. He left Australia for the second time to return to the 13th Battalion on 3 of May 1916, first travelling to Egypt and then on to England before joining his unit in France in October 1916.

Private Carr arrived in France at the onset of what would become the coldest winter in northern France in more than 40 years. He remained with his battalion for weeks as it rotated in and out of the freezing cold front line. By late January Carr had succumbed to influenza and was suffering from asthma and an eye infection. He was taken to hospital for treatment. The winter was a relatively quiet on the Western Front, with each side preferring to wait out the cold weather rather than try to continue the attack in adverse conditions.

Carr returned to his battalion after a week in hospital, and a few days later took part in a raid on a German trench near Gueudecourt. It was probably Carr’s first experience of offensive operations on the Western Front, and he found it shocking. Writing to his mother, he described having a mate killed at his side by a high explosive shell.

He described the small-scale raid as “the hardest fighting in the history of this battalion.”

Within days Carr was back in hospital, suffering from asthma and an eye infection. He rejoined his battalion in mid-February. Shortly afterwards, the German Army began withdrawing to the Hindenburg Line.

Carr’s battalion was involved in chasing up the retreating enemy, and on 11 April 1917 conducted an attack on the Hindenburg Line. The operation was a disaster. The supporting tanks were unable to reach the front line in most cases, and the 13th Battalion was one of several forced back by German machine-gun fire. Carr came through the operation without being hit, and performed so well that he was promoted to temporary corporal that day, confirmed in the rank several months later.

In August, Carr was again obliged to have treatment for venereal disease. Instead of being sent home, however, he was sent between a number of different hospitals and base depots in France. After 11 months he was well enough to return to the front, doing so in mid-July 1918.

Two weeks after Carr got back to the 13th Battalion, it took part in the battle of Amiens, the massive operation which launched the allied offensive that would ultimately lead to the end of the war. The battle of Amiens was a success, with the Australian Corps taking kilometres of ground, and even more captured by the Canadians on their flanks. The German commander Erich Ludendorff later described it as “the black day of the German Army.”

That success came at a cost. Among the many wounded was Corporal Carr, who was evacuated from the battlefield with shell wounds to his left eye and left arm. He died on 12 August, shortly after reaching hospital in Boulogne. Today he lies in Therlincthun British Cemetery at Wimille on the northern outskirts of Boulogne. He was 25 years old.

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

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section