The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of Lieutenant Cecil Arthur Auchterlonie, 25 Battalion, First 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on Lieutenant Cecil Arthur Auchterlonie, 25 Battalion, First World War.

Lieutenant Cecil Arthur Auchterlonie, 25th Battalion
KIA 10 August 1918
Photograph: P10550.039

Story delivered 2 January 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Cecil Arthur Auchterlonie.

Cecil Auchterlonie was from Gympie in Queensland, and worked as a clerk prior to enlisting in 1915. He was posted to the 25th Battalion. Like so many Australian families, his two brothers had joined up as well; Archie, also with the 25th Battalion, and Bertrand, with the 15th Battalion. All three ended up on Gallipoli.

Bertrand was killed during the costly action around Hill 971 on 8 August, 1915. Archibald was killed on 20 October 1915, felled by a sniper's bullet. Cecil Auchterlonie was the only brother to survive the campaign.

After being withdrawn from Gallipoli, the 25th Battalion became the first AIF battalion to arrive in France, and as part of the 2nd Division fought their first major action at Pozières from July to August 1916. Auchterlonie sustained shrapnel wounds to the arm and leg during the fighting and was hospitalised. When he rejoined them, the 25th Battalion was encamped around the town of Vignacourt. It was during this period that he and his mate Herbert Foxton, another young officer from the 25th Battalion, visited the makeshift photographic studio of Louis and Antoinette Thuillier and had their picture taken. They are two of a growing number of Australian soldiers who have been identified in the collection of glass-plate negatives discovered at Vignacourt, a portion of which is now in the Memorial's collection. It is this image that is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection; Auchterlonie is on the right in the slouch hat, with Foxton on the left.

In July 1918 Lieutenant Auchterlonie was with his battalion as they conducted operations north of the French village of Villers-Bretonneux. The first to enter the front line, Auchterlonie "disposed of two Germans" and organised clearing parties to either flank. When the company to his right was forced to withdraw, he sent a platoon to recapture the position. Auchterlonie was awarded the Military Cross, as it "was on account of his initiative and dash that the position was rewon and held".

Lieutenant Auchterlonie continued to serve with distinction, and was awarded a bar to his Military Cross later the same month. After surviving the Gallipoli campaign and two years of fighting in the horrors of the Western Front, Auchterlonie's luck finally ran out. He was killed on 10 August 1918 by a burst of machine-gun fire, and is buried at Heath Cemetery in Harbonnières.

All three Auchterlonie brothers' names are listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War.
This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lieutenant Cecil Arthur Auchterlonie, his brothers Sergeant Bertrand Innes Auchterlonie and Lieutenant Archibald Vivian Auchterlonie, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.