The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (5466) Lance Corporal William Robert Bear, 23rd Battalion, 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 Meredith Duncan, the story for this day was on (5466) Lance Corporal William Robert Bear, 23rd Battalion, First World War.

5466 Lance Corporal William Robert Bear, 23rd Battalion
KIA 1 September 1918
Photograph: P07811.011

Story delivered 1 September 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal William Robert Bear, whose photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

William Bear was born in 1891 in Richmond, Victoria, to William Edgar and Kate Ann Bear. He was a prominent cricketer, captain of the Brighton Union Club, vice-captain of Sandringham Club, and a member of the local Presbyterian church. He enlisted in the AIF on the 1st of March 1916, aged 24, and embarked from Melbourne that August with the 14th reinforcements to the 23rd Battalion.

Following a period of training in England, Bear joined his battalion in France in December 1916. The 23rd Battalion manned the front line throughout the winter before taking part in the second battle of Bullecourt in May 1917. The battalion captured all its objectives, but heavy counter-attacks cost the men dearly. Later that year the AIF moved to the Ypres [pron. Eee –per] sector in Belgium, where in October Bear’s battalion fought in the battle for Broodseinde Ridge [pron. Brood – sender Ridge].

Bear was responsible for maintaining communications during the battle, laying and repairing telephone wires forward of the battalion’s headquarters. He was awarded the Military Medal for his “gallant and excellent service” under heavy fire while maintaining communications at Broodseinde. The citation noted of the communications team that “the demand on their services was incessant” and their duties were carried out “with the greatest courage and consistency”.

In early 1918 Bear was appointed lance corporal. In April the 23rd Battalion was part of the allied push to turn back the German Spring Offensive, and following this took part in the battles at Hamel and Amiens. It was for his actions in laying telephone wires with “continued coolness” under a heavy barrage at Amiens that William was awarded a bar to his Military Medal.

In August Bear’s battalion was involved in an attack on the village of Mont St Quentin. A major push was undertaken in the early hours of the 31st, and by the following midnight Australian troops had captured 14,500 prisoners. The German army launched a swift counter-attack and fierce fighting ensued. Enemy barrages repeatedly damaged the Australians’ telephone lines, and Bear went repeatedly out into the fray to mend them. It was during one of these forays that Lance Corporal Bear was killed. His mates, on learning of his death, mourned the loss of “one of the gamest and best comrades in arms”.

William was initially buried at Feuillères British Cemetery, west of Péronne, but was later exhumed and reinterred at the nearby Hem Farm Military Cemetery. His Military Medal and bar were returned to his father in Australia, and his family posted in memoriam notices in The Argus for many years following William’s death.

Two of William’s brothers, Leslie Douglass Bear and Arnold Norman Augustine Bear, also enlisted but survived the war. Leslie was hospitalised with illness on Gallipoli and was eventually invalided home. Arnold, who left with the same battalion as William, sustained a severe leg wound and was also discharged back to Australia.

William Bear’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lance Corporal William Robert Bear, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.