The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4352) Private Charles Allen, 23rd Battalion (Infantry), First World War

The Last Post Ceremony is presented in the Commemorative area of the Australian War Memorial every 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 Robyn Siers the story for this day was on (4352) Private Charles Allen, 23rd Battalion (Infantry), First World War.

4352 Private Charles Allen, 23rd Battalion
KIA 22 March 1918
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 3 July 2013

Today, we remember and pay tribute to Private Charles Allen.

Charles Allen was born in Fryerstown near Castlemaine in Victoria. He was working as a wood carter at the outbreak of war, and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in September 1915 at the age of 22.

In April 1916, after a period of training in Australia, Allen was sent to England with the 11th Reinforcements to the 23rd Battalion. Whether Charles Allen began to feel the restriction of military life, or was simply curious to see England, a few months after his arrival he was charged with going absent without leave a number of times. None of his absences was for a serious duration, but they resulted in his forfeiting quite a bit of his pay as punishment.

In November 1916 he went to France to join his battalion in the trenches of the Western Front. One of the coldest winters seen in that region for some time was just settling in, and within weeks Allen was evacuated to England with a serious case of trench foot. He would be in and out of hospital with this and other ailments for nearly a year, interspersed with short periods of going absent without leave and training.

In December 1917 Allen was finally well enough to rejoin his battalion in the trenches in Belgium. Once in the front line, his military discipline was exemplary and the periods of being absent without leave that characterised his time in England stopped entirely as he took his new role as a front-line soldier seriously.

On 22 March 1918 Allen was in a post in the front line when he came under a heavy German bombardment from their light trench mortars. A round from one of these guns fell right into Allen's post and killed him and several others instantly. His body was retrieved and buried in a cemetery behind the lines. His only known relatives
were his parents.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War.

This is but one of the many stories of courage and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Charles Allen, and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.