The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4235) Private Mark Walsh, 22nd Battalion, 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 Troy Clayton, the story for this day was on (4235) Private Mark Walsh, 22nd Battalion, First World War.

4235 Private Mark Walsh, 22nd Battalion
DOW 4 August 1916
Story delivered 5 September 2018

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Mark Walsh.

Mark Anthony Walsh was born in 1895, the son of William and Maria Walsh of Parkham in northern Tasmania. After attending the local state school, Mark worked as a farm labourer in the Parkham area.

Mark enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force in Melbourne in January 1916, and after a period of training at Broadmeadows Military Camp, sailed for Egypt with a reinforcement group for the 22nd Battalion. After arriving, he spent the following weeks training near Cairo in preparation for his deployment to the Western Front.

Mark sailed for France and joined the 22nd Battalion on the Somme where it entered the line for the first time on the Western Front in the bitter fighting at Pozieres. After capturing the German-occupied village just days earlier, the Australians had pushed a significant bulge into the enemy’s position. This allowed the Germans to fire on the Australians with heavy artillery from several sides of the battlefield that reduced Pozieres village to rubble. On that same day, the 22nd Battalion participated in a costly and unsuccessful attempt to capture the German positions to the east of Pozieres village known as the O.G. Lines at the cost of over 170 casualties.

With German shells continuing to fall on Pozieres, on the night of 4 August 1916, the 22nd Battalion participated in an attack the O.G. Lines that resulted in its capture. German troops responded with bombardments that crashed down on the Australian positions and counter-attacks that locked men in the captured trenches into fierce grenade duels with the enemy. After this attack, the Australians were successful in both holding and consolidating the O.G. Lines, and the 22nd Battalion was soon relieved from the line. But the six days of fighting at Pozieres had cost the battalion over 650 casualties.

Among them was Mark Walsh, who received multiple gunshot wounds in the attack on the 4th of August just a week after arriving with the battalion. Mark was evacuated to the 3rd Casualty Clearance Station at nearby Puchevillers where he died later that day. Aged 21 at the time of his death, his remains were buried at the Puchevillers British Cemetery, where they lie today.

His name is listed on the Roll of Honour on my right, among almost 62,000 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 Mark Anthony Walsh, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Aaron Pegram
Historian, Military History Section