The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (7812) Lieutenant Frederick Gladstone Wilson, 13th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Places
Accession Number AWM2017.1.145
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 25 May 2017
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 Sharon Bown, the story for this day was on (7812) Lieutenant Frederick Gladstone Wilson, 13th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

Film order form
Speech transcript

Lieutenant Frederick Gladstone Wilson, 13th Battalion, AIF
KIA 26 April 1915
Photograph: P05382.006

Story delivered on 25 May 2017

Today we remember and pay tribute to Lieutenant Frederick Gladstone Wilson.

Frederick Wilson was born on 17 August 1890, the second son of Frederick and Eleanor Wilson. He was born in Sale, Victoria, but when he was a little boy his family moved to Albert Park in Melbourne, where he started school. They later moved to Port Melbourne, and the older boys in the family finished their schooling at the Nott Street School.

As a teenager, Frederick joined the Sale squadron of the Australian Light Horse, and proved to be a most able and zealous soldier, rising to prominence in the regiment. He became a commercial traveller like his older brother Beresford, and moved to New South Wales. In 1913 Beresford was killed in Mosman Bay when he fell between a dinghy and a motor boat moored in the bay, and sank in rough water. Frederick Wilson continued his interest in the military while in New South Wales, serving with the Citizen Forces in the post of captain-instructor.

Wilson applied for a commission in the Australian Imperial Force in November 1914. He was posted to the rank of lieutenant and appointed to the 13th Battalion. The battalion left for overseas service in late December 1914. After a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia, it proceeded to Egypt, arriving in early February 1915. Lieutenant Wilson continued training with the battalion in Egypt for several weeks before being sent on to Gallipoli.

The 13th Battalion sailed from Lemnos in the morning of 25 April 1915, several hours after the landing had started. They arrived off the peninsula that afternoon and began disembarking under fire from about 9.30 pm. By 5 am on 26 April, the 13th Battalion was in position at the head of Monash Valley.

That same day, Lieutenant Frederick Wilson was killed in action. No record of the manner of his death remains, but it appears he was buried nearby. The exact location of his grave is unknown, but he is thought to be buried in Courtney’s and Steel’s Post Cemetery on Gallipoli. There is a special memorial to him in that cemetery, which reads “he died in defence of his country; sadly missed”.

Frederick Wilson’s brother Gilbert enlisted a few weeks after Frederick did, and served in the 2nd Pioneer Battalion. He was on Gallipoli for several months before being sent to fight on the Western Front. After coming through the heavy fighting around Pozières in July 1916, Corporal Gilbert Wilson was killed in action at Flers in November of that year.

In a little over three years, the Wilson family had lost their three eldest sons, two in service of their country. Beresford drowned at the age of 25; both Frederick and Gilbert were 24 when they were killed in action.

Frederick and Gilbert’s names are 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 Lieutenant Frederick Gladstone Wilson and his brother Corporal Gilbert Glenloth Wilson, who gave their lives for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section

  • Video of The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (7812) Lieutenant Frederick Gladstone Wilson, 13th Battalion, AIF, First World War. (video)