The Australian War Memorial in Canberra will be commemorating the service and sacrifice of Blayney resident Private George Phillip Kable at a Last Post Ceremony on Monday 11 March 2024.
"George Kable was born in Newbridge, near Bathurst, in 1897. He was one of 15 children born to Charles and Mary Ann Kable. He moved to Blayney and was working as a labourer when the First World War broke out in 1914," Australian War Memorial historian Meghan Adams said.
"George enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in January 1916, at the age of 18. By November he was on the Western Front with the 33rd Battalion, entering the trenches as a bitterly cold winter set in."
"The first major battle Private Kable took part in occurred on 7 June 1917 in Belgium when the allies attacked Messines Ridge. The battle was a stunning victory but came at the cost of more than 6,000 Australian casualties. A comrade of Private Kable reported seeing him killed instantly by a bullet during the charge."
Kable's body was retrieved from no man's land, and he was buried at Toronto Avenue Cemetery in Belgium, where his remains lie today.
He was 19 years old.
The Last Post ceremony is held at 4.30 pm every day except Christmas Day in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial.
Each ceremony shares the story behind one of 103,000 names on the Roll of Honour. To date, the Memorial has delivered more than 3,300 ceremonies, each featuring an individual story of service from colonial to recent conflicts. It would take more than 280 years to read the story behind each of the 103,000 names listed on the Roll of Honour.
"The Last Post Ceremony is our commitment to remembering and honouring the legacy of Australian service," Memorial Director Matt Anderson said.
"Through our daily Last Post Ceremony, we not only acknowledge where and how these men and women died. We also tell the stories of who they were when they were alive, and of the families who loved and, in so many cases, still mourn for them.
"The sounding of the Last Post is now associated with remembrance but originally it was a bugle call to end of the day's activities in the military. It is a fitting way to end each day at the Memorial."
The Last Post Ceremony honouring the service of Private George Phillip Kable will be live streamed to the Australian War Memorial's YouTube page; https://www.youtube.com/c/awmlastpost.
The stories told at the Last Post Ceremony are researched and written by the Memorial's military historians, who begin the process by looking at nominal rolls, attestation papers and enlistment records before building profiles that include personal milestones and military experiences.
