The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1676) Private Norman Harper, 54th 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 Jana Johnson, the story for this day was on (1675) Private Norman Harper, 54th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1676 Private Norman Harper, 54th Battalion, AIF
KIA 15 May 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 15 October 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Norman Harper.

Norman Harper was born in 1894 in Dubbo, New South Wales, one of ten children born to James Harper, a jockey, and his wife, Margaret. When Norman was six years old his father died, aged just 38.

Norman attended Geurie Public School and later worked as a farm hand. He and his brothers Alexander and Archibald enlisted together in the Australian Imperial Force on New Year’s Day 1916, receiving consecutive service numbers. All three brothers were posted to the 2nd reinforcements to the 54th Battalion. They spent some time undergoing training at Dubbo’s military camp, and in May 1916 they embarked on the troop ship Ceramic, bound for Egypt.

The 54th Battalion was one of the units raised after the Gallipoli campaign as part of the doubling of the AIF. The Harper brothers were soon sent from Egypt to England with the rest of the reinforcements for further training. Archibald was detained following disciplinary action, and a month later Norman and Alexander sailed for France.

Having missed the 54th Battalion’s participation in the disastrous attack on Fromelles, the two brothers joined their unit in September. After a brief stint in hospital Norman re-joined the unit in time for the bitter winter of 1916–17, the coldest Europe had endured for 40 years.

The battalion spent the early part of 1917 training and taking part in operations in and out of the front lines in France. In May it received orders to march in the allied advance eastwards following the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line. Here the 54th Battalion went into the front line at Noreuil.

In the early morning of 15 May the battalion’s front-line positions were subjected to heavy German artillery bombardment. The allies responded with their own bombs and trench mortars, and a series of counter-attacks resulted in the enemy being driven back and suffering “exceptionally severe” losses. The 54th Battalion’s actions were highly praised by the AIF superiors, including General Sir William Birdwood.

Private Norman Harper was among the 61 men of the 54th Battalion who were killed during this time. Today he is commemorated at Villers-Bretonneux in France, on the memorial to those who died in the war but have no known grave. Less than five months later, his brother Alexander was killed in action.

At home the Dubbo Liberal and Macquarie Advocate celebrated Norman’s “kindly disposition and sterling qualities”, and the family later placed a poem in the paper in “loving memory”:

We know that you died for Freedom,
To save our Land from shame,
To rescue a perilled Nation,
And we give you a deathless fame.
No matter how we mourn you,
No matter how we call;
There is nothing left to answer
But your photo on the wall.
And Christ shall link the broken chain
Still closer when we meet again.

Norman Harper’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 service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Norman Harper, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Christina Zissis
Editor, Military History Section