The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1966) Private Frank Reynolds, 55th 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 Yana Johnson, the story for this day was on (1966) Private Frank Reynolds, 55th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1966 Private Frank Reynolds, 55th Battalion, AIF
KIA 2 April 1917

Story delivered 2 April 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Frank Reynolds.

Frank Bishop Reynolds was born in 1884 and was the youngest of nine children of Walter and Ann Reynolds of Lake Bathurst in southern New South Wales. After attending state school, Frank worked on the family property “Somerton”, which the Reynolds family had settled in the 1860s, and was partner in the family firm. Described as broadly built, dark, clean-shaven, and knowing all about horses, Frank was “a favourite with all who knew him”.

Frank enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Victoria Barracks in Sydney in January 1916, and after a period of training at the military camp at Goulburn, sailed for England with a reinforcement group for the 55th Battalion. After four months of training on the Salisbury Plain near Wiltshire, Frank arrived in France in November 1916 and joined the 55th Battalion in the line near the village of Gueudecourt.

By the time Frank arrived, the bitter campaign on the Somme had ended and the Germans and the British were holding their positions for the following winter. The Australians held the line between the villages of Flers and Gueudecourt, where the cold, rain, mud, and frostbite proved far greater enemies than the German army. Although fighting had almost come to a standstill, the Germans periodically shelled the British positions.

The 55th Battalion rotated in and out of the front line with other units of the 5th Australian Division, and spent most of January 1917 resting in camp at nearby Bernafray Wood. After a brief spell in camp near Dernancourt, the 55th returned to the Gueudecourt sector, occupying it until German troops abandoned their Somme defences and began withdrawing to the Hindenburg Line some 40 kilometres to the west. Throughout late February and early March, the 5th Division took part in
the advance that followed, fighting a series of engagements with German rear guards left behind to delay the British advance.

One of the actions fought by the Australians during this period was the 55th Battalion’s costly but successful pre-dawn assault on the village of Doignies. Frank’s platoon was among those that encountered stiff German resistance in attacking a beetroot factory, coming under intense rifle and machine-gun fire as they moved to encircle the village. Once the Germans withdrew, their artillery opened up on Doignies with high explosives and shrapnel as the 55th Battalion worked to consolidate their newly-won positions.

Although a success, the 55th Battalion’s attack on Doignies came at the cost of 181 men killed, missing, and wounded. Among them was Frank Reynolds, who was last seen lying dead in the approaches to the village. Although most of those killed were buried at nearby Lebucquiere, Frank’s final resting place was never formally determined. As such, his name appears on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux among the 10,737 Australians killed in France who have no known grave.

Frank’s death had a tremendous impact on the Reynolds family, but his loss was also felt in small community of Lake Bathurst. A newspaper article announcing his death described Frank as “deeply respected and esteemed in the Lake Bathurst district”. A sanctuary was added to the small St John’s Church by the Reynolds family featuring a substantial stained glass window of the ascension of Christ bearing Frank’s name.

His name is also listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died while serving 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 Frank Reynolds, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section