The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (237) Private Lindsay Mackrell, 5th Machine Gun Battalion (15th Machine Gun Company), 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 Gerard Pratt, the story for this day was on (237) Private Lindsay Mackrell, 5th Machine Gun Battalion (15th Machine Gun Company), First World War.

237 Private Lindsay Mackrell, 5th Machine Gun Battalion
KIA 24 September 1917
Photograph: H05472

Story delivered 14 October 2013

Today, we remember and pay tribute to Private Lindsay Mackrell.

Lindsay Mackrell was one of five brothers from Euroa, Victoria, to volunteer for the AIF during the First World War. A farming family, the Mackrells had lived in the Strathbogie Ranges all of Lindsay's life, and he was a highly respected young man in the district.

Mackrell went into the 5th Australian Machine Gun Company as a private, and after a period of training in Australia and Egypt he was sent to France to fight on the Western Front.

Machine-gun formations in the First World War were increasingly relied upon to deter enemy aircraft. Each side sent planes over the lines to observe enemy activity, and the war in the air developed quickly. Private Mackrell spent a number of months attached to an anti-aircraft guard at Méaulte during 1917, performing the important task of protecting British and Australian attempts to observe the German lines from above.

Eventually, Lindsay Mackrell was sent into the lines around Polygon Wood in Belgium. On 26 September 1917, after a period spent on watch, he retired to a shelter to sleep. Although dugouts provided a measure of protection against shell fire, many could not withstand a direct hit by a high explosive shell. Unfortunately for Lindsay Mackrell, this was precisely the fate of the shelter he chose to rest in: a shell landed directly on his shelter, and he was killed instantly.

Mackrell was buried in the field near the place he had been killed. He had been "a long while with the battalion" and was greatly missed by his fellow soldiers. The Mackrell family lost another son during the course of the war - Private Thomas Mackrell was also killed in action. The other brothers survived and returned to their family, who had given the lives of two of their sons in service to the nation.
Lindsay Mackrell's name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, along with around 60,000 others from the First World War, and his photograph is displayed
today beside the Pool of Reflection.

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