The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (VX44647) Private Robert Findlay Garlick, 2/23rd Infantry Battalion, 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (VX44647) Private Robert Findlay Garlick, 2/23rd Infantry Battalion, Second World War.

VX44647 Private Robert Findlay Garlick, 2/23rd Infantry Battalion
DOW 14 July 1942


Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Robert Findlay Garlick.

Robert Garlick was born on 7 July 1921 in Henty, south of Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, the son of Edward and Thomasina Garlick. Known as “Bobby” to family and friends, Garlick grew up alongside four brothers and five sisters in the Henty area, where he attended Yerong Creek Public School and Henty High School. He later took an apprenticeship as a baker, and worked at Papworth’s bakery in Culcairn.

In July 1940, Garlick travelled to Melbourne to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force. He was only 19 years old – too young to serve – but, like many young men at the time, saw the war as an opportunity too great to miss. At the recruitment centre he gave his age as 21, and soon began training with the 2/21st Battalion, mainly at Bonegilla, near Wodonga in Victoria.

He sailed from Sydney on 8 April 1941, bound for the Middle East. Soon after arriving, Garlick was sent to hospital for treatment of an illness. Upon release from hospital in June 1941 he continued training in the hot and dry desert conditions. During this period he was hospitalised twice more, once with illness, and once with a severe wrist injury that saw him away from his unit for nearly a month.

In late April 1942, after release from hospital for the final time, he joined the 2nd/23rd Battalion, the unit with which he would remain for the rest of his military service. Forming part of the 26th Brigade of the 9th Australian Division, when Garlick joined the 2/23rd Battalion it was undergoing rest and recuperation after heavy fighting at Tobruk.

In late June 1942, Garlick and his battalion began a swift transfer from their training area in modern-day Lebanon, through Palestine, to Egypt. The battalion was moving with the rest of the 9th Australian Division to help meet the threat posed by German and Italian forces attacking British positions near El Alamein in Egypt.

Once in the El Alamein area, Garlick and his comrades set about establishing and manning defences, and conducting raids and patrols on enemy positions. On 12 July 1942, Garlick’s company came under heavy and sustained enemy shrapnel and mortar fire. The barrage was so intense that it was later described as astounding even the battle-hardened veterans of Tobruk.

The lightly-defended Australians endured this for three and a half hours before German infantry troops commenced an attack in a series of waves. The Australians successfully defended with rifle and machine-gun fire, and once Allied artillery could be brought in, the Germans suffered extremely high losses, estimated at over 600.

Two days later, after moving to a new sector of the front, the 2/23rd Battalion set about preparing defences and laying mines in preparation for a likely German tank and infantry attack. As they worked, they came under persistent German small arms and mortar harassment fire which caused further casualties.

On 14 July 1942, Garlick died of wounds sustained from the enemy action. He died one week after his 21st birthday.
Today, his remains lie buried in the El Alamein War Cemetery in Egypt underneath the epitaph: “Great love hath no man; he gave his life for his friends”.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my left, among almost 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 Robert Findlay Garlick, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section