The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1920) Private Gerald Gordon Campion, 10th 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 (1920) Private Gerald Gordon Campion, 10th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

1920 Private Gerald Gordon Campion, 10th Battalion, AIF
DOW 10 October 1917
No photograph in collection

Story delivered 13 February 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Gerald Gordon Campion.

Gerald Campion was born on 8 March 1890 in Minlaton, South Australia, to Joseph and Clara Campion. He was educated at Curramulka Public School and St Bartholomew’s School at Norwood. When his father died suddenly in March 1902, Gerald returned home to support his mother. By the time the First World War began, he was working as a farm labourer in Curramulka.

Campion enlisted at Oaklands on 16 January 1915, following in the footsteps of his brother, Willie, who had enlisted on New Year’s Eve 1914. The brothers were reunited at the base infantry depot, where after their initial training they were allotted to the 5th reinforcements to the 10th Battalion.

On 20 April the Campion brothers embarked from Outer Harbour aboard the transport ship Hororata, bound for Egypt. After a brief stop, they were sent on to Gallipoli, where they arrived in July. Willie was evacuated to England in September suffering dysentery, but Gerald remained on Gallipoli until the 10th Battalion was withdrawn in late November.

The brothers were reunited in early March when Willie re-joined the battalion, and towards the end of the month they sailed for France.
After a period of orientation in a quieter part of the line near Armentières, the 10th Battalion moved south and took part in its first major battle on the Western Front at Pozières. The battalion suffered
heavy casualties. Willie was wounded by shrapnel and again evacuated to England.

Gerald Campion saw further action near Mouquet Farm before the 10th Battalion was sent to the Ypres sector for a period of rest. In October the battalion returned to the Somme, where the men endured one of the worst winters in recorded history. That December Campion contracted mumps, and was admitted to a hospital to recuperate. He returned to the battalion the following February and took part in pursuing the German army as it withdrew to the Hindenburg Line. After a few more periods of illness, he returned to the battalion in mid-August and reunited with his brother.

In September the 10th Battalion took part in the battles of Menin Road and Polygon Wood, and in early October was in support of the capture of Broodseinde Ridge. In the early hours of 9 October a raiding party attacked Celtic Wood. The raid was a disaster and the Australians suffered heavy casualties. Willie Campion was listed among the missing.

Early the next morning, as the 10th Battalion was being relieved, the Australians came under German artillery fire. Gerald Campion was hit in the face and right forearm by shrapnel. He was carried to the 10th Casualty Clearing Station where he died shortly after. He was laid to rest in the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, aged 27.

The devastation in the Campion household was compounded when a later investigation found that Willie had been killed during the raid on Celtic Wood. He was 25 years old.

Gerald Campion’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 Gerald
Gordon Campion, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Michael Kelly
Historian, Military History Section