RAA LIAISON LETTER- 2025 – 2026 EDITION CANNONBALL SUPPLEMENT 129 2/1st Field Regiment Commanding Officers Sword Returns to the Premier Regiment Brigadier LES ‘Les’ Barker CBE, DSO, MC Compiled by MAJ DT (Terry) Brennan from research and articles by MAJGEN Steve Gowner and BRIG John Cox Brigadier LES ‘Les’ Barker CBE, DSO, MC was an artillery commanding officer who commanded 2/1st Field Regiment in North Africa during World War Two. I first came across his name when serving at 1st Field regiment in the 1980s. His name was on a Tobruk signal cannon that he had donated to 1st Field Regiment, It is currently on display in the foyer of the 1st Regiment Headquarters. Further for the previous edition of Cannonball Brigadier John Cox Chair of the Regimental History Committee wrote the back story of a plaster cast of bringing up the Guns which had been unearthed in the storage room of the Cutler VC Club at the School of Artillery. This article included a section on the connection of Brigadier Les Barker to the plaster cast. There is an extract from the article published in the last Cannonball (Edition 102) in this article. The sword is held on Regimental Property and had been displayed in the foyer of the Regimental Officers Mess at the School of Artillery since the Mess was established at Bridges Barrack, Puckapunyal the end 1997. It will now be allocated to 1st Regiment on permanent loan and displayed in the commanding officer’s office. Lewis Ernest Stephen Barker (1895–1981) MAJGEN SN Gower AO, AO (Mil) (Retd) THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED: IN THE AUSTRALIAN DICTIONARY OF BIOGRAPHY, VOLUME 17, 2007 AND ONLINE IN 2007 Lewis Ernest Stephen Barker (1895-1981), army officer, was born on 5 May 1895 at Mulgrave, Melbourne, fourth child of Victorian-born parents Richard Barker, market gardener and later dairyman, and his wife Edith Sibella Frances, née Irving. John Barker was his grandfather. Educated at Brighton Grammar School (1909-13), Lewis entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon, Federal Capital Territory, in March 1914. Graduating sixth out
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