The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2789A) Private Edward John Maurice McKenna, 9th Battalion, AIF, First World War

Place Europe: France, Nord Pas de Calais, Pas de Calais, Bethune, Laventie
Accession Number PAFU2015/347.01
Collection type Film
Object type Last Post film
Physical description 16:9
Maker Australian War Memorial
Place made Australia: Australian Capital Territory, Canberra, Campbell
Date made 17 August 2015
Access Open
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright Item copyright: © Australian War Memorial
Creative Commons License This item is licensed under CC BY-NC
Copying Provisions Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.
Description

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 Craig Berelle, the story for this day was on (2789A) Private Edward John Maurice McKenna, 9th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

2789A Private Edward John Maurice McKenna, 9th Battalion, AIF
KIA 20 April 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 17 August 2015

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Edward John Maurice McKenna.

Edward John Maurice McKenna was born on 5 September 1879 to James and Annie McKenna of Rockhampton. The family moved to Brisbane when he was young and Edward attended Rosalie State School. Events of his youth are unknown, but his father had passed away and his mother had remarried by the time he was an adult.

McKenna was working in the gold mines in Western Australia when the First World War began. He travelled back to Queensland to see his mother before enlisting in the AIF in Brisbane on 24 July 1915. He joined the 25th Battalion, and after his initial training embarked from Brisbane with the 6th reinforcements aboard the transport ship Seang Bee.

After disembarking in Egypt that December, McKenna underwent several months of training in the desert sands. At the end of February 1916 he was transferred to the 9th Battalion, which had returned to Egypt from Gallipoli in January. The battalion sailed for France at the end of March.
By 19 April the 9th Battalion was in reserve billets near Rouge-de-Bout, one mile behind the front line at Armentières, known as the “nursery sector”. Intermittent artillery fire was landing nearby.

Early in the afternoon of the following day, tragedy struck when the battalion’s C Company billets were heavily shelled. One shell landed outside a canvas tent, wounding four soldiers. As men went to assist, another shell landed amongst them, killing several men and wounding
others. A further shell hit a brick wall of a nearby billet causing a further 47 casualties. C Company was decimated, with a further 50 men wounded and 25 killed, one of whom was McKenna. Several other men would die from their wounds over the ensuing days.

McKenna and the other fallen men of C Company were laid to rest in the Rue-Du-Bacquerot (13th London) Graveyard at Laventie. He was 36 years old.

McKenna’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 service and sacrifice told here at the Australian War Memorial. We now remember Private Edward John Maurice McKenna, and all of those Australians who have given their lives in service of our nation.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section

  • Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2789A) Private Edward John Maurice McKenna, 9th Battalion, AIF, First World War (video)