The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3975) Private Leslie Quinn, 3rd Battalion, 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 Nicholas Schmidt, the story for this day was on (3975) Private Leslie Quinn, 3rd Battalion, First World War.

3975 Private Leslie Quinn, 3rd Battalion
KIA 29 June 1916
Photograph: P08624.104

Story delivered 1 August 2014

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Leslie Quinn, whose photograph is displayed today beside the Pool of Reflection.

Leslie Quinn was the eldest of three sons born to Isabella Quinn and her husband. Leslie’s father abandoned his family when the children were still young and Leslie and his brothers and sisters were brought up by their mother. Little else is known of Leslie’s early life, although he was probably brought up in and around Parramatta, where he was born. After school he became a cellarman in charge of a wine cellar.

Quinn enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 27 August 1915, shortly after his brother Cecil enlisted. The third brother, Thomas, would enlist in November of the same year. Leslie was posted to the 3rd Battalion, Cecil served the 18th, and Thomas the 4th Battalion. In early April 1916 Leslie was sent to France to fight on the Western Front.

Many units of the AIF were given tasks in or near the front line soon after arrival in order to get the men used to the conditions of trench warfare. In late June 1916 the 3rd Battalion was near the French village of Fleurbaix providing working parties to repair damaged front-line trenches. In the week or so they spent on this task the men of the battalion regularly came under artillery, trench mortar, and even rifle fire, and sustained a number of casualties.

One of those casualties was Private Leslie Quinn. He was most likely a member of a working party that came under mortar fire at 2 am on 29 June, killing four men of the 3rd Battalion. He is now buried in the Rue David Cemetery in France.

Leslie’s death was a great blow to his mother, who had given all of her sons to fight in the war. Within months she would receive word that Cecil had been killed at Pozières. A year later, Thomas was able to be repatriated to Australia “for family reasons”.

Private Leslie Quinn’s 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 Leslie Quinn, his brother Private Cecil Quinn, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.