Remembrance Day is on November 11 and with that comes a time to reflect on those who gave their lives or suffered in times of war.
The first one was observed at the end of the First World War.
A ceremony will be held at the Cenotaph next Monday commencing at 10.45am, pending access due to roadworks on Marine Parade. If inaccessible the service will be held at the Mechanic’s Hall.
Remembrance Day is a chance to commemorate the many soldiers who served their country. This included the Thorpes, a well-known family in the Lakes Entrance district who had a member make the ultimate sacrifice in World War I.
In 1916 Harry Thorpe was one of an estimated 800 to 1000 Aboriginal people who volunteered to enlist in World War I. He was a Brabuwooloong man of the Gunaikurnai nation.
Today, the name Uncle Harry Thorpe is inscribed on a memorial in Lakes Entrance, where a street called Thorpes Lane is also named in his honour.
He was born to William and Lilian Thorpe at the Lake Tyers Mission, attended the local State School, helped on his father’s property, and then found work as a labourer. He married Julia Scott in 1905 and had two sons, one of whom did not survive childhood.
According to the Australian War Memorial, on February 12, 1916, Harry travelled to Sale to enlist with the Australian Imperial Force. Two months later he boarded the troopship Euripides in Melbourne with the 17th reinforcements to the 7th Battalion.
In July, Harry joined the rest of his battalion in the field on the Western Front. The 7th Battalion was in close reserve during the fighting at Pozières, one of Australia’s earliest and most costly campaigns on the Western Front.
After two weeks of fighting Harry was evacuated with a gunshot wound to his leg and shell shock.
After recovering from his injuries, Harry was promoted to lance corporal. He went on to fight in the battle of Bullecourt, where he was again wounded, this time suffering a gunshot wound to the shoulder.
That same year Harry was involved in the operations near Ypres in Belgium. He assisted his company commander in the dangerous job of seeking out German infantry hiding in dugouts and pill boxes.
His great courage and leadership earned him a Military Medal and a promotion to corporal. His citation read, “By his splendid example and disregard of all danger he inspired those under him”.
On August 8 the Allies began their major offensive for 1918. The day after the advance began the 7th Battalion was hurriedly moved forward to join the fight at Lihons Wood in France, where Harry Thorpe was wounded for the third and final time.
The battalion had moved forward so quickly that they had trouble getting medical assistance, and Harry was found later lying on the battlefield with a bullet wound in his stomach. He died just hours later. He was 34.
Corporal Harry Thorpe is buried in the Heath Cemetery in France, alongside his friend and fellow Indigenous soldier Private William Rawlings, another Military Medal recipient who was killed on the same day.
