The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (26) Private Charles Jonas, 16th 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 Jana Johnson, the story for this day was on (26) Private Charles Jonas, 16th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

26 Private Charles Jonas, 16th Battalion, AIF
KIA 2 May 1915
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 3 May 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Charles Jonas.

Charlie Jonas was born in Melbourne in 1895, but moved with his family to Western Australia as a young boy. His father died when he was a teenager and he was left with his mother, Elizabeth, and younger sister, Esther. In 1914 he was working as a milkman for a Mr Parks of Pingelly, but within weeks of the outbreak of war in Europe he left his job and enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at the age of 19.

Jonas left Australia with the 16th Battalion and went to Egypt to continue his training. On 25 April 1915 he was with his battalion as they “sailed from Lemnos in splendid weather” towards the Gallipoli peninsula. They landed late that afternoon, and the next day found the building of “roadways, trenches, ledges and stores well under way”.

The first major action of the 16th Battalion came on 2 May 1915. They were ordered to attack a position we now know as “the Bloody Angle”. The battalion advanced on enemy positions following an artillery bombardment. They did not come under Turkish fire until they neared the top, when the Turks opened heavy fire from The Nek and other nearby positions. The 16th suffered heavy casualties and became muddled together, but went on to make more attacks from hastily prepared positions over the coming days. Somewhere in the attack Charlie Jonas went missing, and was presumed wounded.

In July Charlie’s mother wrote to the Defence department to enquire about her son: “kindly tell me how my son Charles Jonas is … it is nearly a couple of months since he was wounded and I have not had a letter”. But there was no news to hand, and she was advised that, since his presumed wounds were reported to be slight, she should assume he was progressing well and would contact her soon.

By January 1916 she had still had no word, and had heard from a returned soldier of the 16th Battalion that Charlie had been killed. An inquiry discovered that he was, in fact, not accounted for. In March she begged further, “Will you kindly find out all you can about him for me.” On 22 July 1916, more than a year after his death, a court of inquiry concluded that Private Charles Jones of the 16th Battalion had been killed in the operation on 2 May 1915 and his body lost in the confusion of battle. After the war a number of bodies of men from that attack were found where they fell. Although they could not be identified, they were buried near each other at Quinn’s Post cemetery. Charlie Jonas might have been one of those bodies. He was 20 years old.

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 Jonas, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in the service of our nation.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section