The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1444) Private Edward Charles Dawson, 33rd Battalion, AIF, 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 Charis May, the story for this day was on (1444) Private Edward Charles Dawson, 33rd Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1444 Private Edward Charles Dawson, 33rd Battalion, AIF
KIA 30 March 1918
No photograph in collection – supplied by family

Story delivered 7 January 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Edward Dawson, who was killed fighting in France in the First World War.

Edward Dawson was born in 1894, one of 12 children of John and Mary Dawson of Hillgrove in the New South Wales Northern Tablelands. It is likely Edward attended school in the local area before working as a labourer on a farm or one of the many goldfields in the area at the time. He also had some military experience, having paraded part-time with the 13th Infantry Regiment in the years before the First World War.

Dawson enlisted at Hillgrove in November 1915, and after a period of training at Armidale sailed for the training camps in England in July 1916 as an original member of the 33rd Battalion. As part of the newly-formed 3rd Division, the battalion was among some of the most highly trained in the Australian Imperial Force at the time. It arrived in France in November 1916 and spent several months in the relatively quiet Houplines sector near the town of Armentières, where it actively patrolled and carried out aggressive trench raids against the German lines throughout the following winter.

The 33rd Battalion remained in the area until the following July, playing a central role in the capture of Messines Ridge on 7 June 1917 before moving into Belgium. There it attacked at Broodseinde as part of the Third Battle of Ypres. On 12 October, during the unsuccessful attempt to capture the town of Passchendaele, Dawson received a gunshot wound to his shoulder and was evacuated to a field hospital at Roeselare. He remained there for several weeks.

In March 1918 the German army launched a major offensive that successfully ended the stalemate of trench warfare. Having transferred more than 60 divisions from the fighting on the Eastern Front to the
Western Front, the German army intended to split the British and French on the Somme River and strike at the logistical and support hub at Amiens. Although the Australians were still in Belgium when the Germans attacked, they were immediately sent south to assist the British army in blunting the enemy’s drive towards the city. The 9th Brigade, which included the 33rd Battalion, was sent south of Villers-Bretonneux to hold the line alongside British troops. With the German offensive beginning to stall by the end of March, the 33rd Battalion participated in a counter-attack that successfully swept through Hangard Wood and cleared it of enemy units.

The 33rd Battalion’s action at Hangard Wood came at a heavy price; the battalion suffered nearly 170 casualties, among which was Edward Dawson, who was killed in the fighting. Aged 24 at the time, he was given a hasty battlefield burial in an area, but this grave was lost in the bitter fighting of April and May 1918. His body was never recovered, and as such he is among the 10,737 Australian soldiers with no known grave who are commemorated on the nearby Australian National Memorial.

Dawson’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among 60,000 others from the First World War. His photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is just one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Edward Dawson, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section