The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1130) Corporal Dennis McAuliffe, 7th ALTMB, 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 Dennis Stockman, the story for this day was on (1130) Corporal Dennis McAuliffe, 7th ALTMB, First World War.

1130 Corporal Dennis McAuliffe, 7th ALTMB
DOW 12 March 1917, aged 32

Story delivered 31 December 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal Dennis McAuliffe.

Dennis McAuliffe was born on 28 December 1885 to Cornelius and Eliza McAuliffe. Born in Redesdale in Victoria, McAuliffe attended the Kangaroo Flat State School. His father died when he was young, and his mother later remarried, after which he moved to Kalgoorlie, where he worked as a miner.

McAuliffe enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in May 1915. He underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas with the 28th Battalion the following month. After another period of training in Australia, Private McAuliffe was sent to Gallipoli, serving there for the last four months of the campaign. During the evacuation he left with the machine-gun section of his battalion, and was later commended for his “splendid example under trying conditions”.

After the evacuation, McAuliffe spent a period of time in Egypt training before being sent to France to fight on the Western Front. Shortly after his arrival he was detached for duty to the 7th Brigade Trench Mortar Battery. This suited him, apparently, and in May 1916 he was permanently transferred to the trench mortars. The following month he was promoted to corporal.

McAuliffe’s first major action came during the fighting around the French village of Pozières. In early August, he was responsible for keeping the Stokes mortars supplied with ammunition during an operation that captured strong German trench works to the north-east of the village. This was no mean feat, as their position was under extremely heavy shell-fire, and McAuliffe conducted several carrying parties to and from the trench mortars’ forward position. As it was almost solely
through his efforts that the Stokes Mortars had ammunition during the attack, he was later awarded the Military Medal. A Bar was awarded to his medal early the following year.

Corporal McAuliffe spent the bitterly cold winter of 1916 and 1917 in rotation in and out of the front line with the infantry. In the early hours of 11 March 1917 McAuliffe and his Stokes gun crew were in the front line near the French village of Bullecourt. The Germans shelled their position heavily, eventually striking close enough to blow in the gun position. Miraculously, none of the crew were wounded, and they quickly scrambled to move the gun to a safer position. Just after daylight another German bombardment came over, and this time a high explosive shell burst in the trench close to McAuliffe, wounding him and two members of his crew.

McAuliffe’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Smith, later wrote, “I had him carried to a dressing station immediately, where a doctor attended to him. He was badly cut about the back and lost a lot of blood, but no one realised he was fatally injured. He was quite cheerful.”

McAuliffe was taken to a nearby casualty clearing station, where his condition quickly deteriorated. He died the following day. He was 32 years old.

McAuliffe had given Smith his mother’s address as he was being carried from the trench. Smith later wrote to her, “your son was the best NCO we had in the battery, and has you know, he had won the Military Medal and a bar … we will all miss him very much, and we sympathise deeply with you in your loss.”

Corporal Dennis McAuliffe was buried in the Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension, under the words, “So sadly missed; so deeply mourned.”
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 Corporal Dennis McAuliffe, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section