{{Short description|Australian soldier (1894–2001)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}} {{Infobox military person |name= Roy Longmore |birth_date={{Birth date|1894|04|29|df=yes}} |death_date= {{death date and age|2001|06|21|1894|04|29|df=yes}} |birth_place= Bannockburn, Victoria |death_place= Burwood, Victoria |image= Roy Longmore DA10145.JPG |caption= Private Roy Longmore c.1915 |nickname= |allegiance= {{flagicon|Australia}} Australia |service_years= 13 July 1915 – 16 March 1919 |rank= Lance Sergeant (LSgt) |branch= Australian Army<br>Australian Imperial Force (AIF),<br> - 3rd Reinforcements, 21st Battalion<br> - 2nd Pioneer Battalion |commands= |battles= {{tree list}} * World War I ** Battle of Gallipoli ** Western Front *** Battle of Pozières *** Battle of Armentières *** Battle of Villers-Bretonneux {{tree list/end}} |awards= 1914–15 Star<br>British War Medal<br>Victory Medal<br>80th Anniversary Armistice Remembrance Medal<br>Centenary Medal<br>Légion d'honneur (France) |other_work= Farmhand, Taxicab driver }} '''Roy Longmore''' (29 April 1894 &ndash; 21 June 2001) was an Australian soldier and centenarian, who after Alec Campbell, was noted as the second last living Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) veteran who saw service in World War I.<ref name="bulletin2000">[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090306023851/http://www.auspost.com.au/download/bull_254.pdf "Australia Day: Australian Legends,"] ''Stamp Bulletin'' (Australia Post), p. 3.</ref>

==ANZAC soldier== Longmore set aside his life as a farm-hand in Geelong, Victoria, when he enlisted in the Australian Army with the branch of the Australian Imperial Force at age 21. Private (Pte) Roy Longmore, 3rd Reinforcements, 21st Battalion, of Bannockburn, Victoria enlisted on 13 July 1915, and embarked from Melbourne aboard HMAT ''Anchises'' on 26 August 1915.<ref name="awmDA10145">Australian War Memorial: [http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/DA10145 Pte. Lognmore, Photo Id DA10145, September 1915]</ref> After training in Egypt, was sent to the Battle of Gallipoli where he was a sapper with the 2nd Division, burrowing underneath the Turkish positions and laying mines. After evacuation from Turkey, he fought at Pozières, Armentières, and Villers-Bretonneux.<ref name="bulletin2000"/> He was wounded three times in France and was momentarily given up for dead when he was shot as the Armistice approached in November 1918. He later recalled, :"We were patrolling in a gully when suddenly half a dozen Germans appeared over a hill armed with machine guns and opened fire. Jerry riddled me, knocking me flat on my back, and the last I heard was 'Longy's had it, they got him.'" Fortunately, his fellow soldiers saw him move and rescued him.<ref name="nyt2001">Goldstein, Richard. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E7D61339F931A35754C0A9679C8B63&scp=7&sq=New+Zealand+anzac&st=nyt "Roy Longmore Dies; Australian 'Legend,' 107,"] ''New York Times.'' 2 July 2001.</ref> Lance Sergeant (LSgt) and returned to Australia on 16 March 1919 as a member of the 2nd Pioneer Battalion.<ref name="awmDA10145"/>

==Civilian life== After returning to Australia in 1919, his injuries made returning to farm work impossible, so he drove a taxi in Melbourne. Another change caused by the war was more telling. Before, he had hunted rabbits; but he later explained that when he returned home, he no longer had an appetite for firing at anything alive.<ref name="nyt2001"/>

Longmore married and had one son, Eric.<ref name="bulletin2000"/> The one-time LSgt Longmore died peacefully in his sleep at a Burwood Nursing Home aged 107 on 21 June 2001. He was the second last Anzac to die.<ref name="awmDA10145"/> At his death, Australia honored him one final time with a state funeral.<ref name="nyt2001"/>

==Australian "legend"== In 2000, Longmore along with fellow ANZAC veterans Alec Campbell and Walter Parker was recognized as an "Australian Legends." His name and photograph were honored as part of an annual series of commemorative postage stamps issued by Australia Post since 1997. The stamps commemorate living Australians "who have made lifetime contributions to the development of Australia's national identity and character".<ref>Australia Post: [http://www.auspost.com.au/BCP/0,1467,CH4444%257EMO19,00.html "Racing Legends are first past the post,"] 2007.</ref> Longmore lived to fully enjoy this honor.<ref name="nyt2001"/>

Longmore's 45-cent Legend stamp displays the soldier's portrait as a young man, photographed just prior to his departure for Gallipoli. Formal photographs of the other two ANZAC centenarians complete this stamp set, titled '''The Last ANZACs.''' In addition, a fourth stamp features the 1914-15 star medal which was presented to all those who fought in campaigns during those war years.<ref name="auspost2005">Australia Post: [http://www.auspost.com.au/BCP/0,1467,CH3007%257EMO19,00.html "Previous Australia Post Australian Legends,"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080504014753/http://www.auspost.com.au/BCP/0,1467,CH3007~MO19,00.html |date=4 May 2008 }} 2005.</ref> These stamps, designed by Cathleen Cram of the Australia Post Design Studio, commemorate the story of events and people shaping contemporary Australia.<ref>[http://www1.auspost.com.au/priority/index.asp?area=features&article_id=707&issue_id=33 "156 years collecting Australian graphic art,"] ''Priority'' (Australia Post), 2000.</ref> The Longmore stamp honors him as an individual and as a representative of all 68,000 soldiers at Gallipoli whose actions affected Australia's evolving self-image.<ref>Australia Post: [http://www.auspost.com.au/philatelic/stamps/index.asp?link_id=2.70 "Stamp Bulletin Online No. 254: Australian Legends - The Last Anzacs,"] 21 January 2000.</ref>

==Medals and honours== <div class="center"> 100x30px 100x30px

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* 1914–15 Star * British War Medal * Victory Medal (UK) * 80th Anniversary Armistice Remembrance Medal, 1999 (Australia).<ref name="bulletin2000"/> * Centenary Medal (Australia) * Légion d'honneur, 1998 (France).<ref name="bulletin2000"/> * Australia Post Australian Legends Award, 2000.<ref name="auspost2005"/>

==See also== * Alec Campbell, last living Anzac * Walter Parker, one of the last three living Anzacs to have served at Gallipoli

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * "Australia Day: Australian Legends," [https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20090306023851/http://www.auspost.com.au/download/bull_254.pdf ''Stamp Bulletin'' (Australia Post).] No. 254. March–May 2000. * "156 years collecting Australian graphic art," [http://www1.auspost.com.au/priority/index.asp?issue_id=33 ''Priority'' (Australia Post).] Issue 32, 2000.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longmore, Roy}} Category:1894 births Category:2001 deaths Category:Australian men centenarians Category:Australian military personnel of World War I Category:Military personnel from Victoria (state)