The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (306) Private Charles Ackling, 3rd 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 Sharon Bown, the story for this day was on (306) Private Charles Ackling, 3rd Battalion, AIF, First World War.

306 Private Charles Ackling, 3rd Battalion, AIF
DOW 2 February 1917

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Charles Ackling.

Charles Ackling was born in 1884 in the Sydney suburb of Randwick, one of 11 children born to Henry and Winefred Ackling. Known as “Charlie” to his family and friends, Ackling attended Randwick Public School, and later worked at Mortlake Gas Company in Concord. In 1908, he married Ethel Smith in Waverley, and by the time of the outbreak of the First World War, the couple were living in Enfield. Prior to enlisting to serve in the Great War, Ackling had gained valuable military service by serving for three years in the Australian Rifle Regiment, a local militia force.

Ackling applied to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force on 17 August 1914, just days after the war began. He soon joined the newly formed 3rd Infantry Battalion, which formed part of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Australian Division.
After a brief period of training, Ackling and the 3rd Battalion sailed from Sydney aboard the transport ship Euripides bound for Egypt, where they arrived on 2 December 1914. Following a further period of training, they sailed from Alexandria for Gallipoli.

Ackling and the 3rd Battalion were among the second and third waves of Australian troops to land on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915. Troops of the 3rd Battalion were ashore by 8.30 am, and in the face of heavy Turkish fire spent the day fighting to establish and maintain a foothold on the peninsula. Ackling served in his battalion as a stretcher bearer, helping to move wounded soldiers from the battlefield in difficult conditions.

Ackling remained with his unit on Gallipoli until June, when he was briefly evacuated to Egypt for treatment for influenza. In August, he took part in the bloody battle of Lone Pine, where his unit came under heavy Turkish bombing, but managed to take dozens of prisoners and Turkish machine-guns. In September Ackling was once again evacuated off Gallipoli to recover from illness, and after his return he remained on the peninsula until Australian troops evacuated to Egypt in December 1915.

Once in Egypt, Ackling and his unit continued training and took part in what has become known as the “doubling of the AIF”, a period of growth and reorganisation in which fresh recruits from Australia were mixed with experienced veterans from the Gallipoli campaign.

In March 1916, Ackling sailed with his unit to France and the war on the Western Front.

Ackling and the 3rd battalion’s first major battle on the Western Front was the battle of Pozieres in July 1916, an attempt to capture a ruined village in the Somme region of northern France. The 1st Australian Division, of which Ackling’s unit was part, suffered terribly in this battle, and suffered over 5,200 casualties between 23 and 27 July.

Later in 1916 Ackling and the 3rd Battalion served in the Ypres sector of Belgium, before returning to the Somme region for the terribly cold winter of 1916 and 1917.

By this time, Ackling was no longer serving as a stretcher bearer, but as a cook for his platoon. He was very popular among his comrades. Several of his fellow soldiers wrote very highly of him after the war. One soldier, a Private Bishop, wrote of Ackling: “He was an original, very well liked”. Corporal William Freeman stated, “I knew Ackling well – he was a cobber of mine … one of the best … He was a bonzer chap, and the whole company thought no end of him”.

On 29 January 1917, Ackling and the 3rd Battalion were manning reserve trenches near le Sars, not far from Pozieres, where they had fought their first battle in France. The field diary of the battalion reported that the weather was freezing, and the men were working to improve shelters in the trenches in ice and snow. As they worked, the men came under intermittent German high explosive artillery fire.

Ackling was near the platoon cook house when a shell exploded nearby, injuring him and several other soldiers. He was rushed to the 45th Casualty Clearing Station behind the lines, suffering from artillery wounds penetrating his right lung and left thigh. When he arrived for treatment, he was reported as being dangerously ill. On 2 February 1917, four days after the explosion Ackling died of his wounds.

He was buried in the Dernancourt Communal Cemetery Extension in France, where nearly 2,000 soldiers of the First World War now lie.

His loss was deeply felt by his large family back home in Australia, who left numerous messages expressing their grief in local newspapers. His wife wrote: “Far from those he loved the best, In a hero’s grave he lies at rest”. He was 34 years old.

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 Charles Ackling, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section