The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (NX27423) Private Hedley Donald Glynn, 1st Corps Ammunition Park, Australian Army Service Corps, Second Australian Imperial Force, Second 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 Joanne Smedley, the story for this day was on (NX27423) Private Hedley Donald Glynn, 1st Corps Ammunition Park, Australian Army Service Corps, Second Australian Imperial Force, Second World War.

NX27423 Private Hedley Donald Glynn, 1st Corps Ammunition Park, Australian Army Service Corps, Second Australian Imperial Force
Presumed killed 20 April 1941

Story delivered 8 April 2017

Today we pay tribute to Private Hedley Glynn.

Known to family and friends as “Don”, Hedley Donald Glynn was born on 8 April 1940 in Orange, New South Wales, to Michael and Alice Glynn.

Before the outbreak of the Second World War, Glynn had served in the 2nd Army Service Corps of the 2nd Motor Transport Division of the Militia.

On 5 June 1940, he volunteered for the Second Australian Imperial Force, enlisting in Martin Place in Sydney. At this time, Britain was facing its greatest peril following the fall of France, and enlistments in the Second Australian Imperial Force soared. Glynn was one of more than 100,000 Australian volunteers who flocked to recruiting stations during the Australian winter of 1940.

Following enlistment, he was posted to the Australian Army Service Corps. In mid-September, Glynn embarked in Sydney for overseas service aboard the transport ship HMAT S4, bound for the Middle East. The following month he arrived in Palestine.

At the beginning of April 1941, Glynn’s unit embarked for Greece, where Australian, New Zealand, and British units – known as the Anzac Corps – were sent to support the Greeks. When German troops invaded Greece on the 6th of April they overwhelmed the Allied troops. Lacking aircraft and armour, the Allies were poorly prepared to withstand the German onslaught.

Glynn was last seen on 20 April 1941. Reported missing, he is presumed to have been killed in action on this date, one of more than 300 Australians who were killed during the Greek campaign.

He was 24 years old.

Today his name is commemorated on the Athens Memorial which lists those missing soldiers with no known grave from the Greece campaign.

Glynn’s name is listed here on the Roll of Honour on my left, among some 40,000 Australians who died while serving in the Second 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 Hedley Donald Glynn, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Lachlan Grant
Historian, Military History Section