The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (270) Lance Corporal David Ferguson McLeod, 1st 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (270) Lance Corporal David Ferguson McLeod, 1st Battalion, AIF, First World War.

270 Lance Corporal David Ferguson McLeod, 1st Battalion, AIF
KIA 10 August 1915

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal David Ferguson McLeod.

David McLeod was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1890 to David and Isabella McLeod. At some point he went to Canada, where he served with the Canadian rifles, and later came to Australia and settled in Sydney. There he worked as a clerk, leaving to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force within weeks of the outbreak of war in 1914.

McLeod was posted to the 1st Battalion and shortly afterwards received a promotion to lance corporal. He undertook a brief period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas with the first contingent. The 1st Battalion were sent to Egypt, where the men continued training in the desert. Increasingly their training was tailored towards the specific task of forcing a landing on the Gallipoli peninsula.

On 25 April 1915 the 1st Battalion landed in the second and third waves of infantry. By that time the Australians of the covering force had pushed the Turks back from the heights immediately above the beach, and there were fewer casualties amongst the newly-landed troops. At some point over the next three or four days, however, McLeod was wounded in the face. He wrote to a friend to tell him, “I got a bullet through my cheek and through my nose. It was a very narrow squeak. Just nipped a blood vessel under my left eye, took the flesh away from the cheek, and went in about the dimple of my nose and said a fond farewell via my right nostril.”

Lance Corporal McLeod was evacuated to hospital to Egypt, where he wrote his cheery letter to his friend, describing his wounds to his face and arm. He added, “the wound is healed now. I have a slight scar on my cheek, which I think will disappear, and my much-respected nasal appendage inclines slightly to starboard … my eye reminds me of a Honolulu sunset, but it is clearing nicely. So much for my face.”

McLeod’s letter was published in The Sydney Morning Herald, and was soon taken up and copied in newspapers across the country. He finished his letter by saying, “I hope to be into it again very shortly. Get the boys to come and take a part in the making of Australia’s name—I wouldn’t be out of it for worlds.”

True to his wish, Lance Corporal McLeod returned to the firing line on Gallipoli in June. Six weeks later the 1st Battalion moved into position in reserve at Lone Pine. By the early evening the battalion had been drawn into the battle and manned newly-captured trenches. Over the following days they held on tenaciously, despite fierce counter-attacks from the Turks.

In the early hours of the morning on 10 August, Lance Corporal David McLeod, described as a “tall, slight man”, was just outside battalion headquarters when he was struck in the throat by shrapnel from a bomb. He fell wounded, and was rushed to the beach and later taken on board a hospital ship. He never made it back to Egypt, dying at sea on the return journey. McLeod, whose letter urging the boys to come and take a part would be published in regional newspapers around Australia for months to come, died on board the hospital ship Devanha and was buried at sea. He was 25 years old.

His name 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 David Ferguson McLeod, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section