The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (55) Lieutenant Andrew Hugh Carrigan, 113th Australian (Howitzer) Battery, 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 Dennis Stockman, the story for this day was on (55) Lieutenant Andrew Hugh Carrigan, 113th Australian (Howitzer) Battery, First World War.

55 Lieutenant Andrew Hugh Carrigan, 113th Australian (Howitzer) Battery
KIA 2 November 1917

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Andrew Hugh Carrigan.

Andrew Carrigan was born on 20 June 1889 in Moree, in northern New South Wales, the only son of Andrew and Emily Carrigan. He was educated at St Joseph’s College, Hunters Hill, on Sydney’s North Shore, and was known by his middle name Hugh, as well as his nickname “Tiny”, which he acquired at school, standing over six feet tall. Andrew worked as a sawyer and when war broke out in August 1914 he was serving in the Royal Australian Field Artillery in Queensland.

Less than three weeks after Britain declared war on Germany, Carrigan reported to the Victoria Barracks at Brisbane and enlisted for the Australian Imperial Force. He was appointed as a bombardier of the 1st Battery of the 1st Field Artillery Brigade in the 1st Australian Division, and was sent to Sydney. In October 1915 Carrigan embarked on the transport ship Argyllshire, and after a brief stopover at Albany in Western Australia sailed with the rest of the 1st Australian Division to Egypt to train for the attack on Turkish forces in the Dardanelles.

On 25 April 1915, troops from the 1st Australian Division landed on Gallipoli. Under extremely heavy fire they successfully established a beachhead that would become their home for the next eight months. In the extremely steep and rugged terrain, it was difficult for artillery to be successfully landed and deployed against the Ottoman troops. At 3 am on the morning of 26 April, the 1st Battery landed one gun and three wagons, moved into action on top of Shell Green, and remained in action for the whole day, firing more than 500 rounds on the enemy.

The difficult conditions soon saw Carrigan’s unit, along with the Australian 2nd, 3rd and 6th Batteries, moved to Cape Helles to provide artillery support for British troops landing in the area. It was while providing this artillery support that Carrigan was injured by a gunshot wound to the shoulder on 15 July. The injury was serious enough that he was sent to hospital in Malta to recover for nearly four months. Carrigan returned to Gallipoli in early November until the evacuation of Australian troops to Egypt in December. On 17 December 1915, just days before the last troops left the peninsula, Carrigan was promoted to the rank of corporal. On that same day, Australian troops played a game of cricket as Turkish shells flew overhead in an attempt to create a distraction from the imminent departure of allied forces. The game was played on Shell Green, the same area where Carrigan and the 1st Battery had first set up their gun in the early hours of 26 April.

After the evacuation, the Australian Imperial Force effectively doubled in size while encamped at Egypt. Carrigan’s experience serving on Gallipoli made him a useful and sought-after soldier. He was transferred to the 113th Howitzer Battery of the 13th Field Artillery Brigade of the 5th Division and sent to France, arriving in June 1916. Carrigan provided artillery support for Australian troops at Fromelles in July 1916, the first major action undertaken by Australian troops on the Western Front. In August 1916 he was promoted to 2nd lieutenant and spent months in the Somme region of France before being transferred to Belgium, when the focus of Australian operations moved north in mid-1917 in preparation for the Third Battle of Ypres.

On 18 October 1917, Carrigan was awarded the Military Cross, his citation reading that it was awarded “for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in charge of ammunition wagons. When hostile fire caused three casualties to drivers, killing two horses and wounding eleven others, he at once gave orders for the removal of the wounded, re-arranged the teams, and supervised the withdrawal of the column in spite of the continuous shelling.”

On 2 November, Carrigan was positioned outside the town of Zonnebeke in Belgium providing covering artillery support for Australian front-line troops. Carrying out bombardments on German positions often brought about retaliatory fire and it was in one of these retaliations that Carrigan was killed by an exploding shell. He was 29 years old.
The commanding officer of Carrigan’s howitzer battery wrote to Carrigan’s mother: “Your son’s death has created a breach in our ranks such as we will never be able to refill. The memory of his personality will be a lasting memento of a man who always aspired to do his duty. This, coupled with his good-nature and capacity for hard work, early earned him the very high position in the bonds of friendship that join comrade and comrade in this awful struggle.”

He is buried in the Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery west of Ypres. His grieving parents chose the following epitaph for his grave: “Lord have mercy on his soul. May perpetual light shine down on him.”

Lieutenant Andrew Hugh Carrigan is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 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 Lieutenant Andrew Hugh Carrigan, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section