The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1679) Lance Corporal Robert Greig, 6th Machine Gun Company, 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (1679) Lance Corporal Robert Greig, 6th Machine Gun Company, AIF, First World War.

1679 Lance Corporal Robert Greig, 6th Machine Gun Company, AIF
KIA 9 October 1917
Story delivered 15 November 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal Robert Charles Gordon Greig.

Robert Greig was born in 1894 and was one of three children of David and Jane Greig of Penshurst in south-west Victoria. Known to family and friends as Gordon, he attended Warrnambool Agricultural High School and Dookie College at the University of Melbourne before working as a clerk at the Victorian Rivers Department in Rochester. Later becoming an assistant engineer, he was actively involved in the Citizens Military Forces and paraded part-time with the 17th Light Horse (Victorian Mounted Rifles) Regiment.

Gordon enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Rochester in May 1915, and after a period of training at Seymour military camp, embarked for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the newly-raised 22nd Battalion two months later. By the time he arrived in Egypt, the 22nd Battalion, as part of the 2nd Division, were preparing to land on Gallipoli to reinforce the Anzac positions after the unsuccessful August offensive. Gordon arrived on Gallipoli in the first week of September, and with his battalion occupied part of the Line Pine trenches. Around this time Gordon would have learned that his older brother, Norman, had been listed as missing after leading a raid on the Turkish positions at German Officers’ Trench.

Gordon was evacuated to Egypt several weeks later suffering from dysentery and enteric fever. His condition worsened, and he was transported to England for a lengthy period of rest and recovery.

After a brief period with the 6th Training Battalion at Weymouth in Dorset, Gordon sailed for France in August 1916 and rejoined the 22nd Battalion, which was resting behind the lines after taking part in the
bitter fighting at Pozières. The battalion returned to Pozières later in August, when the focus of operations shifted north to the high ground towards Mouquet Farm. Here, on 26 August 1916, Gordon performed the action for which he was awarded the Military Medal. While carrying ammunition supplies to the front line, according to his citation, Gordon “distinguished himself by his coolness and determination under fire, at times extremely heavy, and succeeded in getting his loads delivered regularly and at the appointed hours, thanks to his excellent example”.

Several weeks later, the 22nd Battalion was sent north into Belgium where it occupied positions near St Eloi [along the Ypres-Comines Canal. Gordon transferred to the 6th Machine Gun Company around this time, forming part of a six-man gun crew operating a Vickers heavy machine-gun and returning to the Somme. Here the 6th Machine Gun Company put down machine-gun barrages and harassment and interdiction fire against the Germans throughout the winter. The company then participated in the advance towards the Hindenburg Line during March and April. Gordon was promoted to lance corporal, fought in the Second Battle of Bullecourt in May 1917, and then in the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium, taking part in the Battle of Menin Road on 20 September, and the advance towards Passchendaele village in early October.

On 9 October 1917, Australian and New Zealand troops stood poised ready to assault Passchendaele. Artillery barrages and rain had turned the battlefield into a quagmire, making it difficult for the artillery to be brought up to support the infantry attack. The men of the 6th Machine Gun Company went forward to support the 5th Brigade’s assault at Poelcapelle, but German machine-gun and rifle fire from Daisy Wood inflicted a heavy toll as the machine-gunners advanced. The 6th Machine Gun Company suffered 26 casualties in the attack, 15 of which were killed. Among their number was Gordon Greig.

Aged 24 at the time of his death, Gordon’s remains were never recovered from the Poelcapelle battlefield. His name is listed on the
Menin Gate Memorial, alongside 6,000 Australians killed in Belgium who have no known grave.

Devastated by the loss of their two sons, David and Jane Greig inserted the following epitaph in a Melbourne newspaper: “Two Anzac brothers now reunited. Our brave boys”.
Gordon Greig is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 Australians who died while serving in the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Lance Corporal Robert Charles Gordon Greig, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section