The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (SX2538) Private Victor Eric Stringer, 2/10th Battalion, Second 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (SX2538) Private Victor Eric Stringer, 2/10th Battalion, Second AIF, First World War.

SX2538 Private Victor Eric Stringer, 2/10th Battalion, Second AIF
KIA 22 July 1941
Photograph: P08170.007

Story delivered 22 July 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Victor Eric Stringer.

Born in Port Broughton in South Australia on 26 July 1919, Victor Eric Stringer was the son of Richard George Stringer and Rosina Stringer. A tractor driver before the war, Stringer was prominent in the local sporting community, and excelled at football, cricket, and tennis.

Upon the outbreak of the Second World War, Stringer – according to the Port Lincoln Times – “was the first to enlist boy from the district” in the Second Australian Imperial Force. Joining up in May 1940, he was posted to the 2/10th Battalion and in November 1940 embarked for overseas service.

The 2/10th Battalion was the first South Australian battalion raised for the Second AIF. It arrived in Egypt in December 1941, and in April 1941 found itself in the defence of Tobruk.

It was here during the siege of Tobruk that Private Victor Eric Stringer was killed in action, on 22 July 1941.

The battalion’s war diary reports that Stringer was in a group of seven men conducting a nightly patrol into no man’s land. In the darkness, the patrol inadvertently wandered into a minefield. Stringer accidently trod on a mine and was seriously injured. Three other members of his patrol were also wounded. The patrol decided to return immediately to the safety of the Australian lines, but Stringer died of his wounds before he could be evacuated to the Regimental Aid Post. He was 22 years old.

His body is buried in the British Commonwealth War Cemetery in Tobruk, Libya.

Stringer’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, along with the names of some 40,000 other Australians killed in the Second World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Victor Eric Stringer, and all of those Australians who gave their lives for their nation.

Dr Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section