The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (323) Second Lieutenant Andrew Charles McKinnon, 60th 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 , the story for this day was on (323) Second Lieutenant Andrew Charles McKinnon, 60th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Second Lieutenant Andrew Charles McKinnon, 60th Battalion, AIF
KIA 19 July 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 27 March 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Second Lieutenant Andrew Charles McKinnon.

Andrew McKinnon was born in 1886 to Andrew and Mary McKinnon of Bright, Victoria. At the time the First World War broke out in 1914 he was working as a farmer, and enlisted within weeks. He was posted to the 8th Battalion, and after a short period of training in Australia was sent for overseas service.

The 8th Battalion took part in the landing on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, as part of the second wave. Ten days later it was transferred to Cape Helles to participate in an attack near the Turkish village of Krithia. The operation captured little ground, but the Australians suffered heavy casualties. McKinnon was later Mentioned in Despatches for his service on Gallipoli.

In May 1915 McKinnon was promoted to corporal, and three months later was promoted again to sergeant. In August 1915 he came down with a serious case of dysentery and spent several months in hospital on Mudros. He was also treated for a gunshot wound to the left hand and a shrapnel wound in his right knee.

McKinnon re-joined his battalion in Egypt after the evacuation from Gallipoli, during which time the AIF underwent a period of reorganisation. As a part of this process, McKinnon was posted to the 60th Battalion. He received his commission shortly before being sent to France in June 1916.

The first major action of the 60th Battalion on the Western Front came on 19 July 1916 when it attacked German positions near the French village of Fromelles. The attack failed, with the heaviest casualties ever sustained by the Australian military in a 24-hour period. More than 5,530 men were killed, wounded or missing.

One of those missing was Second Lieutenant Andrew McKinnon. Various investigations were carried out to discover his fate. The AIF discovered several soldiers who had heard that McKinnon had been killed, and uncovered a number of different accounts of his death.

In Australia McKinnon’s father also tried to find out what had happened. He had a letter from a Private McKay, who stated that he had spoken to three men from McKinnon’s platoon who said that they had come under heavy German machine-gun fire during the advance. Deciding that further advance was “madness”, McKinnon had ordered his men to lie down and take advantage of any cover available. McKay wrote that “to be doubly sure that all his men had hear the command, [McKinnon] remained standing for a time … exposing himself and drawing the enemy’s fire”.

Second Lieutenant McKinnon’s body was never recovered. He was 30 years old.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died during 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 Second Lieutenant Andrew Charles McKinnon, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section