The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (4503) Private George Archibald Allan Guthrie, 54th 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 (4503) Private George Archibald Allan Guthrie, 54th Battalion, AIF, First World War.

4503 Private George Archibald Allan Guthrie, 54th Battalion, AIF
KIA 9 April 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private George Archibald Allan Guthrie.

George Guthrie was born in 1894 to James and Lucy Guthrie of Williamstown in Victoria. He grew up on Morris Street, and attended St Mary’s Roman Catholic School. His father was a well-known footballer in the district and a member of the local Druids lodge. When George was still a young boy, his father’s health began to fail, and he died when George was around nine years old. George was keenly interested in the sea and worked as a stevedore on the local docks. He also served four years in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve.

George Guthrie was among the first to offer himself for active service following the outbreak of war in 1914. He became a member of number 5 Company of the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF) that was sent north of Australia to secure German interests in New Guinea. The force captured the radio tower at Bita Paka, encountering some resistance, and then took control of the rest of the German-colonised area with few problems.

Guthrie returned to Australia after six months service with the ANMEF. He had contracted malaria in New Guinea and continued to have periodic bouts of fever. Despite enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915, he was not fit to be sent overseas until the following February, when his health permitted. Guthrie had been posted to the 13th Battalion, but after arriving in Egypt in March 1916 he was transferred to the 54th Battalion, and continued training in the desert.

The 54th Battalion was sent to France to fight on the Western Front in June 1916, and the following month participated in its first major attack near the French village of Fromelles. The attack failed disastrously, with the 54th Battalion suffering hundreds of casualties. While Private Guthrie survived, he had been wounded in the face and head, and was sent to hospital in Étaples. He returned to the battalion in the field in time for the bitterly cold winter of 1916 and 1917, during which the men largely lived outdoors and rotated in and out of the front line. Towards Christmas he contracted trench foot, and was evacuated to hospital in London.

Private George Guthrie took some time to recover from the problems with his feet, and was sent to the Salisbury Plain for an extended period. There his military discipline was not all it could be, and he was punished a number of times for going absent without leave, missing parades, and skipping out on field punishments. These problems continued throughout 1917, and he did not rejoin the 54th Battalion on the battlefields of France until early 1918.

Within weeks of Guthrie’s return to France, the Germans began a major offensive. The 54th Battalion were put in reserve near the French town of Villers-Bretonneux ready to protect the railhead at Amiens if necessary. On 9 April 1918, the 54th Battalion’s position came under fire from German artillery. One shell fell into the headquarters dugout, killing a number of senior officers. Elsewhere in the line, three other ranks were killed and six wounded.

One of those killed was Private George Guthrie. He had been sleeping in a dugout when another shell scored a direct hit. A nearby private later said that he had been hit “in the body and [was] badly knocked about, death being instantaneous.” He was buried the following day by his comrades. Today George Guthrie lies in the Aubigny British Cemetery under the words “faithful under death”. He was 23 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 George Archibald Allan Guthrie, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

Meleah Hampton
Historian, Military History Section