The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (6435) Private Hardie Drew, 17th Australian Infantry 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 Joanne Smedley, the story for this day was on (6435) Private Hardie Drew, 17th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

6435 Private Hardie Drew, 17th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
KIA: 20 September 1917

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Hardie Melville Drew.

Harden Drew was born in Wellington, New South Wales, about 1894, the son of John and Elizabeth Drew. Known as “Hardie”, he attended school in Wellington, before becoming a labourer in the district.

In 1916, Drew enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. He and his uncle James Drew joined on the same day at Dubbo and trained there for several months. In November 1916, Hardie embarked on the transport ship Suevic from Sydney.
The ship arrived in England in January 1917, and Drew travelled to the training camps on Salisbury Plain. He trained in England until June, when he sailed for France. After arriving on the Western Front, Drew joined his unit, the 17th Australian Infantry Battalion.

Drew’s unit had been positioned in the Somme sector for the first half of 1917, but soon after he arrived, it moved to the far north of France. With the failure of the British and French forces to achieve a breakthrough on the Somme during 1916, British commanders sought to capture the high ground in Flanders. Their attention turned to the salient around the town of Ypres, just over the border in Belgium.

While in France, Drew continued to train in the methods of warfare needed on the Western Front. In early September, the men of the 17th Battalion carried out a practice attack on trenches that had been dug to resemble German trenches as closely as possible.

In the days following this training exercise, the 17th Battalion marched over the border into Belgium, and closer to the front line. On 20 September 1917, the unit took part in the battle of Menin Road. It succeeded in capturing its objectives, but at the cost of over 300 casualties. At some point in the fighting, Hardie Drew was killed. He had been on the Western Front for just over three months.
Drew’s remains were never found. His name is inscribed on the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres – one of 6,000 Australians listed there who were killed in Belgium and whose final resting place is unknown.

Hardie was survived in Australia by his father, three brothers and four sisters. To mark the first anniversary of his death, his grieving family had the following poem printed in the local newspaper:
None he loved was by his side,
To hear his last faint sigh;
Or whisper just one loving word,
Before he closed his eyes.
Hardie’s uncle James, with whom he had enlisted, joined the 57th Battalion and also served on the Western Front. James was killed in France in April 1918 during the first battle of Villers-Bretonneux.

Private Hardie Drew is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 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 Hardie Melville Drew, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Thomas Rogers
Historian, Military History Section