The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (7031) Private William James Bridge, 2nd Pioneer Battalion/Australian Graves Service, 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 Andrew Smith, the story for this day was on (7031) Private William James Bridge, 2nd Pioneer Battalion/Australian Graves Service, First World War.

7031 Private William James Bridge, 2nd Pioneer Battalion/Australian Graves Service
DOD 21 April 1919
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 1 January 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private William James Bridge, who died in the months following the end of the First World War.

William Bridge was born in 1899 in Townsville, Queensland. He attended Christian Brothers’ School in Townsville, and was working as a clerk in Brisbane when he enlisted in the AIF in August 1917.

William was assigned to the 21st reinforcements of the 26th Battalion, and left Sydney on RMS Ormonde in March 1918. He arrived in Egypt one month later, and was sent to England for more training. There, William became ill and was admitted to hospital for several weeks. In August he travelled to France and was taken on strength of the 26th Battalion.

William was transferred to the 2nd Pioneer Battalion one month later. Pioneer battalions were created in 1916 to assist both the engineers working behind the battlefields and the infantry at the front. William had some experience working as a carpenter building houses, and his skills were put to good use in constructing bridges and repairing roads as the allies pushed towards victory in France.

When the Armistice was declared in November 1918, the 2nd Pioneers were in the Somme area. William was in hospital for much of December, receiving treatment for a hernia. He re-joined his battalion in February, and then transferred to the Australian Graves Detachment in late March 1919. Within this unit he performed the physically and emotionally taxing work of locating, identifying, and reburying Australian war dead from the battlefields of France.

In early April William contracted the influenza which, in a cruel blow to nations already devastated by the war, was spreading rapidly throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

William was admitted to the 7th Casualty Clearing Station at Agnez-lès-Duisans, but he succumbed to the disease on 21 April 1919. He was 20 years old.

William was buried at the Duisans British Cemetery in the French village of Étrun. Close to Arras, this cemetery commemorates some 3,200 First World War Commonwealth servicemen who died in this area – many at Casualty Clearing Stations – during and immediately after the war.

William Bridge’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour to my right, along with the names of more than 60,000 other Australians who died 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 Private William James Bridge, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Kate Ariotti
Historian, Military History Section

Sources:
Service Record: NAA B2455 BRIDGE WJ

Roll of Honour Circular

2nd Pioneer Battalion War Diaries for September and November 1918: AWM4 14/14/28 and AWM4 14/14/31

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Website entry for ‘Duisans British

Cemetery’:http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/4300/DUISANS%20BRITISH%20CEMETERY,%20ETRUN