The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (727) Lance Corporal John Daniel Potter, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, 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 (727) Lance Corporal John Daniel Potter, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, first World War.

727 Lance Corporal John Daniel Potter, 3rd Light Horse Regiment
KIA 1 June 1916

Story delivered 30 December 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lance Corporal John Daniel Potter.

Familiarly known by his middle name, Daniel, John Potter was born on 16 April 1884 in Mount Gambier, South Australia, to John and Sarah Potter. He was educated locally at the public school at Glenburnie, and went on to work as a miner. He also spent two years serving with the Scottish Company of the South Australian Infantry Regiment. In 1910 his father died, leaving his mother dependent on her son’s income.

In November 1914, a few weeks after the outbreak of war, John and his brother Joseph enlisted together in the Australian Imperial Force. They were posted to the 3rd Light Horse Regiment and underwent a period of training before leaving Australia on the same troopship, bound for overseas service.

The 3rd Light Horse Regiment was first sent to the Middle East where it continued training in the desert camps of Egypt. Although originally determined to be unfit for service on Gallipoli, the light horse were sent – without their horses – when more men were needed. Arriving in May, the 3rd Light Horse Regiment largely played a defensive role on Gallipoli. However, at the end of July 1915 Joseph Potter received a bayonet wound to the thigh. His wound became badly abscessed, and he left his brother John behind as he was he was invalided to Australia, and eventually discharged from the army.

John and the other Australians on Gallipoli were evacuated towards the end of 1915, returning to Egypt where the AIF underwent a period of training and reorganisation. Those weeks and months proved hard for many, and at the end of March Potter was court martialled for breaking camp and going into a local town. After serving his punishment, his discipline improved, and in mid-May 1916 he was promoted to lance corporal.

By this time the 3rd Light Horse Regiment was in position defending the Suez Canal. On 1 June 1916 it was camped not far from the Egyptian town of Romani. At 6.30 in the morning a Turkish aircraft flew over the camp and started dropping bombs. Potter dashed get some horses out of the way when he was struck by one of the bombs and killed immediately. The ten bombs dropped by the enemy aircraft resulted in the deaths of ten men (including two of Potter’s mates) with 16 more wounded, and the loss or death of nearly 50 horses.

Captain Chaplain Hunter MacGoun wrote to Mrs. Potter in Mount Gambier to say, “you will find solace in the thought that he died at his post … to say that the Empire loses a good defender is a commonplace remark, and while true … I trust that your son’s example will help others to voluntarily enter and do their part bravely in this great effort.”

Dan Potter was buried not far from where he was killed. After the war his grave was exhumed and he was reinterred in the Kantara War Memorial Cemetery, north of Cairo, under the simple epitaph “sadly missed”. Lance Corporal Daniel Potter was 32 years old.

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 Lance Corporal John Daniel Potter, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section