The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Lieutenant Sydney Kelso Ford, 9th 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 Lieutenant Sydney Kelso Ford, 9th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Lieutenant Sydney Kelso Ford, 9th Battalion, AIF
KIA 23 July 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 30 September 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Sydney Kelso Ford.

Sydney Ford was born in Maryborough, Queensland, on 25 December 1891 to Thomas and Emma Ford. Thomas Ford worked in a bank, but when he was asked to transfer to Charters Towers, his wife refused to accompany him. Instead, he bought a hotel. His wife began drinking heavily and neglected the family, and in 1900 she left to live with a locomotive fireman with whom she’d been having an affair.

Thomas Ford took his sons to live in Brisbane, and was a much more stable influence on his young family. Sydney attended the Brisbane Grammar School, passing his junior and senior exams, and went on to pass the matriculation examination for science and engineering for Queensland University. Instead of attending university, however, he undertook a surveying apprenticeship in Brisbane and went on to work for the Survey Department of the Water and Sewerage Board in Queensland. Ford was well known in rowing circles, and in November 1914 was one of a winning pair in a competition on the Brisbane River.

Ford enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in June 1915, shortly after hearing of the death of his brother, Thomas Ford, who was killed in action at the dawn landing on Gallipoli in April 1915. Four months later Sydney applied for and received a commission, before leaving for overseas service in January 1916. He continued his training in England.

Lieutenant Ford joined the 9th Battalion in France in early July 1916. Two weeks later the battalion participated in an operation to capture the French village of Pozières. During the attack Ford was in charge of a line of infantry, and he rushed forward when it was time to go. There were
reports that he rushed too far ahead, and ran into his own artillery barrage.

While out in no man’s land Lieutenant Ford’s good friend, Lieutenant Wittkopp, who had been in charge of the line behind him, was badly wounded. Ford got hold of him, saying “Come along, Wit, and I’ll give you a hand along”. They got into a shell hole but were pinned down by artillery fire. They lay there for some time, chatting quietly to each other. Wittkopp remembered that Ford seemed to stretch at one point, and then stopped talking. Wittkopp “became alarmed, and began to shake him, but it was of no use”. Ford had been hit by shrapnel. Wittkopp later wrote:
"you can imagine how utterly surprised and grieved I was … I could hardly move, but by the flash of bursting shells I could see his face, which was quite composed. He looked just as if he were sleeping."

Ford’s body was never recovered, and today he has no known grave. He was 24 years old.

His father later established the “Ford Memorial Medal for Poetry” in memory of his two sons. Described as an award in honour of “two gallant brothers”, the Ford Memorial Prize is still given annually for the best poem in English submitted by an undergraduate student at the University of Queensland.

Sydney Ford’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with 60,000 others from 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 Lieutenant Sydney Kelso Ford, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Peter Hunter