The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (2149) Private David McNeil Drennan, 48th 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 (2149) Private David McNeil Drennan, 48th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

2149 Private David McNeil Drennan, 48th Battalion, AIF
KIA 11 April 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 16 September 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private David McNeil Drennan.

David Drennan was born on 8 September 1891 to John and Ann Drennan. His mother was Scottish, and had met and married his father, an Irishman, in Greenock, Scotland. The pair migrated to Australia around 1880. John Drennan worked on farms in the Clare district in South Australia before taking up a farm of his own near Balaklava. David was born on this property. His mother died in February 1900, and with the farm struggling to make any money John Drennan sent his daughters into service to make ends meet.

John Drennan married the widowed Margaret Longmuir in October 1901. By 1910 land was reaching record high prices, and he was able to sell his property for a huge profit, retiring in Woodville, Adelaide, with relative wealth. David appears to have remained with the family, and pursued an interest in the local Presbyterian Church. He attended local schools and went on to become an electrician in a business owned by an older brother.

David Drennan enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in April 1916. His brother George had enlisted two months earlier and had gone into the artillery. David also served with the artillery, and was eventually posted to the 48th Battalion. He left Australia in August 1916 and, after a period of training in England, joined the 48th Battalion on the Western Front in late February 1917.

On 11 April 1917 the 48th Battalion attacked German positions near the French village of Bullecourt. The operation incorporated exciting new weapons – tanks – but they were mechanically unreliable and left the infantry dangerously unsupported. The men came under heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, and the 48th Battalion suffered more than 430 casualties in the space of a few hours.

One of those killed was 25 year old Private David Drennan. His body was never recovered and today he is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial to the missing at Villers-Bretonneux. He left the whole of his estate to his three sisters, who had received no financial assistance from their father since being put out to work as children.

His brother George was also killed on the Western Front, dying in October 1917.

David Drennan’s name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among more than 60,000 Australians who died while serving 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 David McNeil Drennan, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section