The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1997) Driver John McGrath, 11th Field Artillery Brigade, 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 (1997) Driver John McGrath, 11th Field Artillery Brigade, First World War.

1997 Driver John McGrath, 11th Field Artillery Brigade
KIA 30 December 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 30 December 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Driver John McGrath, who was killed while fighting in France during the First World War.

John McGrath was born in Dungarvan in County Waterford, Ireland, in 1887. On the eve of the First World War he was living in North Melbourne with his older brother Lawrence, working as a gardener.

McGrath enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in Melbourne in July 1915. After a period of training he embarked for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the 8th Light Horse Regiment. The Gallipoli campaign had ended by the time he arrived in Cairo, and the AIF spent the following months training and reorganising in preparation for the fighting on the Western Front. As part of the doubling of the AIF, McGrath was transferred to the newly formed 4th Division Artillery and was mustered as a gunner in Number 48 Battery, 11th Field Artillery Brigade, before sailing for France in June 1916.

As soon as he arrived in the relatively quiet sector near the town of Armentières, McGrath was transferred to the headquarters company as a driver, where he was responsible for supply and logistical support for the brigade’s needs.

Throughout 1916 McGrath was involved in the major actions involving Australians on the Western Front, supporting Australian trench raids in the Armentières sector and bombarding the German lines in the action at Fromelles. In July the brigade moved to the fighting on the Somme at Pozières and Mouquet Farm, before spending several weeks in Belgium.

In November the brigade returned to the Somme to take up positions near the village of Gueudecourt, where the AIF spent winter – the coldest Europe had seen for 40 years. Fighting had come to a standstill in this sector, where cold, rain, mud, and trench foot proved the men’s greatest enemies.

The German artillery constantly shelled the Australian firing line, searching for field gun batteries behind the front line. On 30 December 1916 McGrath was inside a dug-out when it was struck by a German howitzer round, colloquially referred to by the troops as a “coal box”. The resulting explosion collapsed the dug-out, killing McGrath and another man. Aged 30 at the time of his death, the location of his grave was never formally identified.

John McGrath is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux, along with the 10,738 Australians killed in France who have no known grave.

His name also appears 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 Driver John McGrath, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section