The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (6421) Gunner John Kenworthy Ashhurst, 11th Brigade, Australian Field Artillery, 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 (6421) Gunner John Kenworthy Ashhurst, 11th Brigade, Australian Field Artillery, First World War.

6421 Gunner John Kenworthy Ashhurst, 11th Brigade, Australian Field Artillery
KIA 22 July 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 16 February 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Gunner John Kenworthy Ashhurst.

John Ashhurst was born in Bridgewater, South Australia. He was educated in Bridgewater and Mount Barker, and went on to work as a drugs assistant with Faulding & Co. He was a keen sportsman, playing for the Bridgewater football and cricket teams, and he also played Aussie Rules for the North Adelaide Football Club.

He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915. He was only 19 at the time but his father game him "full consent to enlist in the Australian Army Medical Corps attached to any Expeditionary force which may be sent from Australia". John already had 12 months' experience with the AAMC as a cadet before the war, and was readily accepted at the recruitment office.

However, after his arrival in Egypt Ashhurst transferred to the artillery as a gunner, and went to France to join the 11th Brigade of the Australian Field Artillery. He first entered the line in June 1916.

In May 1917 his battery was in action at Bullecourt. Ashhurst was wounded by a German shrapnel pellet when his gun came under fire. Suffering a serious wound to the head, he spent some time recovering in hospital in England.

He returned to his artillery brigade in mid-1917 as they were in the line in Belgium. On 22 July, in a battery position near Hollebeke, his unit came under artillery fire. Ashhurst was just stepping into a trench to take cover from the barrage when a shell burst on the parapet. He and two other men, Gunner Walter Carmody and Bombardier Robert Birt, were caught by fragments of the shell and were killed instantly.

Ashhurst was buried next to his comrades. His mate Ernest Mummery wrote, "He was one of the best chaps going and one of the best gunners we had." He was sadly missed in Australia as well, where he had a wide group of friends and was well known for his "bright and cheerful disposition". John Ashhurst was just 22 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War. There is no photograph in the Memorial's collection to display beside the Pool of Reflection.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Gunner John Kenworthy Ashhurst, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.