The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1820) Private Samuel Poole, 2nd Australian Infantry 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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (1820) Private Samuel Poole, 2nd Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1820 Private Samuel Poole, 2nd Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
KIA 8 August 1915
Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Samuel Poole.

Samuel Poole was born in 1893 in Staffordshire, England, to Annie and Robert Poole. Samuel, known as “Sam” to his family and friends, attended the Blurton Church School, and then worked at the local sewer works. In 1912 Sam emigrated to Australia. He settled in the Boorowa region of New South Wales, sharing farm duties with his brother Robert and three other men at Plains Creek.

Poole enlisted into the Australian Imperial Force on 28 January 1915. After three months training at Liverpool in New South Wales, in April he sailed from Sydney aboard the troopship Argyllshire, bound for Egypt. Encamped at Heliopolis, he wrote a letter home, telling his brother that he was having a “jolly good time” in this “land of sand and dust”.

On 26 May 1915, a month after the Australian landing at Anzac Cove, Poole joined the 2nd Battalion at Anzac Cove. Poole’s battalion commander recorded in his field diary that Poole and the 128 reinforcements who arrived with him looked “a good solid lot of men”.

On the same day, Lance Corporal William Beech, of Poole’s 2nd Battalion, first trialled the periscope rifle, an ingenious invention that allowed Australian troops to fire on Turkish lines from the trenches without exposing themselves to enemy fire. But the novelty of the new invention was short-lived. As soon as it arrived at the front, the 2nd Battalion came under heavy Turkish shelling, something that Poole would have to get used to over the coming months. Three days later, Turkish forces set off two enormous mines under the lines held by the 2nd Battalion. The commander of the battalion recorded that “a column of earth was thrown about 60 feet into the air. Earth fell all over our lines and even on our parade ground.” Two engineers in Australian tunnels were killed, but by a stroke of extreme luck, Poole and the rest of the men were behind the lines having tea and therefore were not hurt.

Poole spent the next two months enduring the hardships of warfare on the Gallipoli peninsula. His battalion did not take part in any major battle, but instead spent their time manning the front line and resting. At the front, the men would come under intermittent Turkish shelling, rifle, machine-gun, and sniper fire. On 22 June 1915 Poole wrote to his brother, noting, “This place reminds me of [the farm at home] where we had to carry our water up the hills … only it is more dangerous, with having the shells to dodge.”

On 6 August 1915, the 2nd Battalion led the charge at the battle of Lone Pine. The operation was designed to divert Turkish forces from a major allied offensive to the north at Hill 971. After three days of artillery fire on Turkish positions, at 5:30 pm on 6 August, Australian troops charged into no man’s land with the blinding setting sun at their backs. Still recovering from the heavy bombardments, Turkish troops were not able to man their guns until the Australians were close to their positions; but when the Australians reached the enemy trenches, they found the Turkish troops well-defended and the trenches covered over with roofs of pine logs. Some of the Australian troops took to removing the roof and assaulting the Turkish front line trench, while the majority of the Australians attacked the more exposed Turkish communication and supply trenches in the rear.

As the Australians advanced into the Turkish lines the fighting was brutal and hand-to-hand. After about half an hour, Australian troops reached a depression that contained Turkish headquarters and support units, and came under heavy counter-attack. The Australians were now in charge of the main Turkish trench lines, but under constant heavy attack in their exposed position. After building hasty sandbag barricades to block Turkish attacks, Australian troops had to endure three days of unrelenting heavy counter-attacks and grenade bombardments.

In this battle, Poole was employed as a despatch rider. His job was to run important messages from the front line to unit commanders to help direct the battle. On 8 August, while the 2nd Battalion was defending against the Turkish counter-attacks, he was sent to request reinforcements. While carrying the message he was shot by a Turkish sniper and killed instantly. He was 23 years old. He was the first man from his adopted home at Boorowa to fall in the Great War. He was also one of 2,277 Australians casualties suffered at the Battle of Lone Pine.

In the chaos of the fighting, Samuel Poole was originally reported as missing in action. His body was eventually found by a Lieutenant Macneil of the 10th Battalion, who confirmed his death. Macneil devoted great energy after the war to tracking down Poole’s family, ensuring that his treasured watch ended up in the right hands. Macneil’s first attempt to contact the family was originally dismissed by Samuel’s brother as a hoax, but two years later a second letter was received, and Macneil was able to provide the family with details of Sam’s death and send them his timepiece. The watch was sent to Samuel’s brother Robert in Boorowa, Australia, and then returned to his grieving mother in England, where it remains with the family to this day. It took nine years for the watch to come back into his family’s possession.

Samuel Poole now rests in the Lone Pine Cemetery on Gallipoli, where 1,167 Commonwealth servicemen are buried.

Private Samuel Poole 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 Private Samuel Poole, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section