The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1355) Trooper Alexander Nairn, 8th Light Horse Regiment, 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (1355) Trooper Alexander Nairn, 8th Light Horse Regiment, AIF, First World War.

1355 Trooper Alexander Nairn, 8th Light Horse Regiment, AIF
KIA 23 December 1916
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 23 December 2016

Today we remember and pay tribute to Trooper Alexander Nairn.

Alexander Nairn was born in 1887 to John and Elizabeth Nairn of Buangor, Victoria. He attended the local state school and went on to become a farmer like his father.

Nairn enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915, and underwent a period of training in Australia before leaving for active service overseas with reinforcements to the 8th Light Horse Regiment in October. He arrived in Egypt as the rest of the AIF was evacuating from Gallipoli. Trooper Nairn was a quiet man who approached his duties conscientiously, and quickly earned the respect of his peers.

In March 1916 the 8th Light Horse Regiment joined the forces defending the Suez Canal for an Ottoman drive across the Sinai Desert. The regiment missed the Battle of Romani, which turned the Ottoman advance, but took an active part in following up the retreat as the Turks pulled back across the desert.

On 23 December 1916 the 8th Light Horse took part in an attack on Ottoman trenches near the village of Magdhaba in the Sinai Desert. Nairn’s friend, Sergeant Mann, later recalled:

we were in action the whole day, and Alex, in the short rushes we made was alongside of me … he had been through a storm of bullets that day, and once he and I were crouching behind a mound and a bullet landed just by his head. He remarked, “My luck’s in to-day”.

The Turks eventually surrendered, and the position was captured. However, during the last charge, made with the bayonet, Trooper Alexander Nairn was killed in action. Though he rose with the others to fix bayonets, his could not fit properly in its socket. As he stopped to readjust it, a sniper shot him, the bullet going through his chin and out his throat. Sergeant Mann recalled:

I have no hesitation in saying he was one of the straightest and purest living men I have come in contact with – a fine soldier, conscientious and trustworthy, and as game as any man I have seen. He has left a gap in the troops that will not be filled.

The Nairn family received a number of sympathy letters from Alex’s friends. Mr Adams, secretary of the YMCA in Egypt, wrote:

his sterling worth was recognised by all who knew him … it may be some small consolation to know that he suffered absolutely no pain. He died like a hero and the man that he was, fighting on behalf of righteousness and justice. No more glorious death was possible, and we all honour the man who has so nobly given his all.

Trooper Alexander Nairn was buried in the desert by his mates. After the war his remains were reinterred in the Kantara War Memorial Cemetery on the eastern side of the Suez Canal. His mother chose the following words for his headstone: “Dear, your grave I may never see, but you are never absent in memory.” He was 29 years old.

Alexander Nairn’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 Trooper Alexander Nairn, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Dr Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section