The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2166) Private James Ward, 39th 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 (2166) Private James Ward, 39th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

2166 Private James Ward, 39th Battalion, AIF
DOW 7 June 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 4 December 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private James Ward, who died while fighting in France during the First World War.

James Ward was born in 1886, one of 12 children of William and Harriet Ward of Terrington St Clements in Norfolk, England. After attending the local elementary school he briefly worked as a famer before immigrating to Australia in 1907. Several of his older brothers had already immigrated to Australia to farm a number of properties in the Wimmera region of Western Victoria, so Ward followed their lead and worked as a farm labourer on a property near Murra Warra.

Ward enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Ballarat in May 1916, and after a period of training at Broadmeadows Camp on the outskirts of Melbourne he embarked for the training camps in England with a reinforcement group for the 39th Battalion.

Forming part of the Australian 3rd Division, the 39th Battalion was among the most highly trained Australian units that went on to serve on the Western Front. After several months on the Salisbury Plains Ward joined his battalion in the relatively quiet sector outside the town of Armentières in France. There the battalion rotated in an out of the front line, actively patrolling no man’s land and periodically raiding the German trenches opposite. After a promotion to lance corporal, Ward was slightly wounded during one such trench raid carried out by the 39th Battalion on in late May 1917. His wounds did not necessitate his evacuation, and he remained with this unit to take part in future operations.

On 7 June 1917 Ward took part in the fighting at Messines, where Australian troops from the 3rd and 4th Divisions, alongside the New Zealanders and the British, succeeded in capturing a prominent ridge line held by the Germans since the early days of the war. In this highly successful operation 19 underground mines were detonated beneath the enemy trenches before the Australian infantry advanced and captured the German position.

Despite this success, the 39th Battalion suffered as many as 450 casualties within a few short hours. Among them was Private James Ward. He had been wounded in the head and arm during the fighting and was carried by stretcher-bearers to the 9th Field Ambulance advanced dressing station, where he succumbed to his wounds. Aged 32 at the time of his death, he was buried nearby at the Pont-D’Achelles Military Cemetery at Nieppe, where he rests today.

This loss was no doubt a heavy blow to the Ward family, both in England and in Australia. The news that James had been killed in action arrived at the same time that both families were informed that his older brother Harry had also been killed at Messines while fighting with the New Zealanders. Both men died within two days of each other on the same battlefield in France, and today rest within eight kilometres of each other.

The names of James and Harry Ward are listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with around more than 60,000 others from the First World War.

This is just one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private James Ward, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section