The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (318) Private John Piggott, 7th Battalion, AIF, 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 (318) Private John Piggott, 7th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

318 Private John Piggott, 7th Battalion, AIF
KIA 8 May 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 26 March 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private John Piggott, who died during the First World War.

John Piggott was born in 1891 in Oxfordshire, England, one of eight children born to parents George and Emily Piggott. He attended school in Henley-on-Thames before moving to Australia and taking up residence in Victoria. John was working as a gardener when he enlisted in the AIF in August 1914, just a few weeks after the declaration of war.

John was assigned to the 7th Battalion and left Melbourne with his battalion on HMAT Hororata in October. He arrived in Egypt in early December and was marched into camp just outside Cairo. After several months of training, the battalion was transferred to Lemnos in preparation for the allied landings on the Gallipoli peninsula.

The 7th Battalion reached Gallipoli at around 5.30 am as part of the second wave of landings. Ten days later it was sent to Cape Helles to take part in an advance on the village of Krithia, a Turkish stronghold and one of the initial objectives of the British after the landings. The Australians were ordered into action just after 5 pm on 8 May. The 7th Battalion, along with the 6th, formed the front line of the attack. This was a fierce and dangerous advance, with enemy artillery and machine-guns exacting an enormous toll. Official historian Charles Bean later wrote that the attack was “made in the teeth of rifle and machine-gun fire such as Australians seldom again encountered during the war.”

In just over one hour, some 1,000 men of the 2nd Division had become casualties, including approximately 250 from the 7th Battalion.

John Piggott was one of those killed. He was 24.

The exact particulars of his death are unknown, and he was simply listed as “killed in action”. Today he is commemorated at the Helles Memorial on Gallipoli, a 30-metre-high obelisk visible to ships passing through the Dardanelles. This memorial lists the names of over 21,000 Commonwealth servicemen who died at Helles and on operations elsewhere on the peninsula and who have no known grave.

John Piggott’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour to my right, along with the names of more than 60,000 other Australians who died fighting 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 Private John Piggott and all those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Kate Ariotti
Historian, Military History Section

Sources:
www.ancestry.com.

Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour circular.

National Archives of Australia, John Piggott, attestation papers.

7th Battalion War Diary, August 1914 to February 1915 (AWM4 23/24/1), 25 April 1915 (AWM4 23/24/2), and 8 May 1915 (AWM4 23/24/3).

C.E.W. Bean, Official history of Australia in the war of 1914–1918, volume II, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1921–42, p. 36.

http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/76100/HELLES%20MEMORIAL.