The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (877) Sergeant Alfred Windsor Rochester, 7th Battalion, 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 (877) Sergeant Alfred Windsor Rochester, 7th Battalion, First World War.

877 Sergeant Alfred Windsor Rochester, 7th Battalion
KIA 8 May 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 3 April 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sergeant Alfred Windsor Rochester, who died during the First World War.

Alfred Rochester was born in 1886 in Inglewood, Victoria, one of 12 children of Thomas and Mary Rochester. He had served for five years in the Victorian Rangers – a pre-war militia unit – which may have influenced his decision to volunteer for the AIF. Alfred enlisted in August 1914, just after the declaration of war.

The 28-year-old motor engineer was assigned as a corporal to the 7th Battalion. Alfred left Melbourne with his battalion on HMAT Hororata in October 1914, having been promoted to lance sergeant and then sergeant. The battalion arrived in Egypt in early December and was marched into camp just outside Cairo. After several months of training, it was transferred to Lemnos in preparation for the allied landings on Gallipoli.

The 7th Battalion reached Gallipoli at around 5.30 am on 25 April as part of the second wave of landings. Several days later, as part of the 2nd Division, the battalion was sent to Cape Helles to take part in an advance on the village of Krithia, a Turkish stronghold and one of Britain’s initial objectives. The Australians were ordered into action just after 5 pm on 8 May, and the 6th and 7th Battalions formed the front line of the attack. This was a fierce and dangerous advance, with enemy artillery and machine-guns exacting an enormous toll. Official historian Charles Bean later wrote that the attack was “made in the teeth of rifle and machine-gun fire such as Australians seldom again encountered during the war”. In just over one hour, some 1,000 men of the 2nd Division had become casualties, including approximately 250 from the 7th Battalion.

Alfred was one of these casualties. Initially, there were conflicting reports as to his fate. He was first reported as wounded, then later wounded and missing, but a court of inquiry held in France in September 1917 – nearly two years after his disappearance – finally determined that he had been killed in action on 8 May.

A returned soldier who had served with Alfred wrote to the grieving Rochester family, stating that their son “was a very fine fellow, very popular with everybody. He was always to the fore in whatever was going and led his men well; they would do anything for him – a real man in every sense of the word.”

Today Alfred is commemorated at the Helles Memorial on Gallipoli, a 30-metre-high obelisk visible to ships passing through the Dardanelles. This memorial lists the names of more than 21,000 Commonwealth servicemen with no known graves who died at Helles and on operations elsewhere on the peninsula.

Alfred Rochester’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour to my right, along with the names of more than 60,000 other Australians who died fighting 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 Sergeant Alfred Windsor Rochester and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Kate Ariotti
Historian, Military History Section

Sources:
www.ancestry.com

Australian War Memorial, 7th Battalion War Diary: August 1914 to February 1915 (AWM4 23/24/1); 25 April 1915 (AWM4 23/24/2); 8 May 1915 (23/24/3).

National Archives of Australia: Alfred Windsor Rochester attestation papers; letter A.L. Waldron to manager ARC Information Bureau.

C.E.W. Bean, Official history of Australia in the war of 1914–1918, vol. 2, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1921–42.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission: http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/76100/HELLES%20MEMORIAL