The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1172) Sergeant Wilfred John Counsel, 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 Joanne Smedley, the story for this day was on (1172) Sergeant Wilfred John Counsel, First World War.

1172 Sergeant Wilfred John Counsel
KIA 11 April 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 7 June 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Sergeant Wilfred John Counsel, who died in France in the First World War.

Wilfred Counsel was born in 1894, the youngest of seven children of Richard and Mary Counsel of Branxholm, Tasmania. After attending Branxholm Public School he worked as a farm assistant in the local area. In the months after war was declared Wilfred travelled to Claremont, near Hobart, where he enlisted in the AIF. As with most Tasmanian volunteers in the first years of the war, he then travelled to Victoria and underwent training at Broadmeadows Camp on the outskirts of Melbourne.

Wilfred left Australia with the 15th Battalion in December 1914 and, after a period of training in Egypt, landed on Gallipoli on the afternoon of 25 April 1915. The 15th Battalion defended the position known as Pope’s Hill from numerous Turkish attacks throughout the rest of April, and in May was involved in establishing and defending the beachhead at Anzac. Around this time Wilfred was shot in the thigh and was evacuated to Egypt for several months’ recovery. He returned to the battalion after the heavy fighting of August and was promoted to the rank of corporal.

After the withdrawal from Gallipoli in December 1915 Wilfred was transferred to the newly established 4th Machine Gun Company in preparation for redeployment to the Western Front. He was promoted to sergeant, where he commanded a machine-gun battery in the bitter fighting at Pozières and Mouquet Farm. He was wounded for the second time in August 1916, but remained on duty.

The relentless fighting on the Somme had a profound impact on the men’s morale. In October, when the 15th Battalion was in the relatively quiet St Eloi sector in Belgium, Wilfred shot himself in the hand with his service revolver in what was believed to be a self-inflicted wound. This was considered a serious crime under British Military Law and could lead to a lengthy period in prison, although Wilfred was never tried. He was evacuated to England for recovery, and did not rejoin his battalion until March 1917.

By the time Wilfred returned to France, the German army was withdrawing to a formidable stronghold known as the Hindenburg Line. Wilfred took part in the advance on the line to the German defences outside the village of Bullecourt. In a poorly planned and executed attack the Australian 4th Division suffered over 3,300 casualties while attempting to break through the German positions.

Among them was Sergeant Wilfred Counsel, who was declared missing on 11 April 1917. Despite attempts by the Red Cross to determine his whereabouts, a court of inquiry determined he had been killed, although his remains were never recovered from the Bullecourt battlefield.

Wilfred Counsel was one of 15,700 Australians killed in the fighting on the Western Front to have no known grave. His name is listed on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France, and here on the Roll of Honour to my right, along with more than 60,000 others from the First World War. There is no photograph in the Memorial’s collection to display beside the Pool of Reflection.

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