The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (367) Private George Duncan Radnell, 14th 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 (367) Private George Duncan Radnell, 14th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

367 Private George Duncan Radnell, 14th Battalion, AIF
DOW 1 June 1918
Story delivered 16 November 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private George Duncan Radnell.

George Radnell was born in 1898 in Tarnagulla, Victoria, the youngest son of William and Annie Radnell. His father had sparked a minor gold rush in Tarnagulla when he discovered a gold reef in the mid-1890s.

When George was around six or seven years old he was on his way home from a local football match and tried to hop on board a loaded lorry coming along the street. He slipped and fell, badly injuring both feet. He would bear the scars the rest of his life.

George Radnell enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in January 1915. To do so, he presented a letter of consent signed by his father stating his age to be 18 years and 5 months. In reality, George was under age – by some accounts 16 and a half, but possibly as young as 15. George’s older brother Charlie Radnell also tried to enlist but was turned down. He would be turned down again before finally being accepted for service a year later.

George Radnell was posted to the 14th Battalion and underwent a period of training in Australia before being sent overseas. In late May 1915 he arrived on Gallipoli, where the 14th Battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the Anzac front line.
In early August the 14th Battalion attacked Hill 971 as part of the August Offensive, capturing it briefly at great cost. Private Radnell came through the operation, but shortly afterwards was evacuated from the peninsula suffering from severe dysentery. After some weeks he was sent to hospital in England, not returning until early December, a few weeks before the evacuation.

Back in Egypt, Private Radnell’s health continued to suffer. He was again hospitalised for a short period before rejoining the 14th Battalion
during its training. In March he was promoted to lance corporal. Three months later the 14th Battalion left to fight on the Western Front.

In August 1916 the 14th Battalion fought a number of operations around the French village of Pozières. On 29 August, Lance Corporal Radnell was struck by fragments from a shell blast and was evacuated from the front line with wounds to his chest and left arm. Again he was sent to hospital in England to recover. Radnell returned to the Western Front in early December 1916 and spent the bitterly cold winter of 1916 and 1917 rotating in and out of the front line. In February his brother, Private Charlie Radnell, was killed in action during a raid at Bois Grenier.
On the morning of 11 April 1917, the 14th Battalion attacked the Hindenburg Line near the French village of Bullecourt and suffered heavy casualties. Less than one month later, George Radnell reverted to the rank of private at his own request. His reasons for doing so were unrecorded.

On 26 September 1917, the 14th Battalion conducted an operation near the Belgian village of Zonnebeke. During the attack, Private Radnell “displayed great courage and initiative by getting together a party of 7 men and rushing an enemy post in which were 10 Germans, killing four and taking the remainder prisoners”. He was later wounded in the left arm, and once again found himself in hospital in England.

A month after Radnell arrived in hospital in Weymouth he was awarded the Military Medal for his actions at Zonnebeke. His awards were reported in Australian newspapers, one saying:
Mr and Mrs Radnell have had to bear the bitterness of one dear son’s death, bravely fighting for our liberty, and it is some consolation for them now to learn that their youngest born – a lad not 20 years old – is one who is thought worthy by the present world’s leaders to a distinction for conspicuous valour in helping to gain a victory for our arms that for all future time shall be a beacon throughout history.

The people of Tarnagulla got together to send George a cable, which read: “Tarnagulla residents proud of you. Congratulations.”

Private Radnell rejoined his battalion again in early January 1918. At the end of May that year the battalion was in billets in the French village of Allonville. George Radnell was in a large barn occupied by A Company, when the Germans shelled the village. An artillery shell scored a direct hit on the barn, cutting it in half, killing 17 outright and wounding more than 60 others. Men were buried in the debris and had to be dug out. The war diary records that the majority of the wounds “were awful”.

Private George Radnell survived the initial blast, but was badly wounded in the face and legs. He was taken to a nearby casualty clearing station, but died of his wounds two days later. He was buried in the Vignacourt British Cemetery, underneath the inscription: “George, a Tarnagulla lad, celebrated his 16th birthday at Anzac in 1915”.

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 Private George Duncan Radnell who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section