The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3027) Private John William Dewsnap, 59th Australian Infantry 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (3027) Private John William Dewsnap, 59th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF, First World War.

3027 Private John William Dewsnap, 59th Australian Infantry Battalion, AIF
KIA 19 July 1916

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private John William Dewsnap.

John Dewsnap was born in 1878 in Williamstown, Victoria, the second eldest of nine children born to John and Mary Dewsnap. Known as “Jack” to his family and friends, he attended a state school and took an apprenticeship in Yarraville. He later worked as a railway porter, and gained military service by serving in the senior cadets.

His father worked as a stationmaster, and John spent much of his childhood living in various parts of rural Victoria. His father passed away in 1913, but owing to his work on the railways, he continued to move around. In 1914 he is recorded as living in Boort in northwest Victoria, and at the time of his enlistment gave his address as Brighton, Melbourne.

John Dewsnap enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on the 12th of July 1915, and began training with the reinforcements of the 7th Infantry Battalion, one of four brothers who would serve for Australia in the Great War.

In September 1915 he sailed from Melbourne for Egypt, where he continued training. In February 1916 Dewsnap transferred to the newly created 59th Infantry Battalion. In June he sailed from Egypt for France and the war on the Western Front.

Dewsnap had been in France for less than a month when he and the 59th Battalion took part in Australia’s first major engagement on the Western Front, the battle of Fromelles.

In this battle, Australian forces formed the northern pincer of a joint British and Australian attack on a bulge in the German lines. After a bombardment of the German lines, Dewsnap’s 59th Battalion attacked across no man’s land in a series of waves. The attacking Australians encountered extremely heavy German machine-gun and rifle fire, and could not get closer than 90 metres to the German trenches. They suffered heavy casualties. The battle was a disaster for Australia, which suffered over 5,500 casualties in a single day.

In the chaos of the battle, Dewsnap was originally reported as missing in action, and it was not until August 1917, over a year after the battle of Fromelles, that he was officially declared to have been killed in action.

He has no known grave, and is commemorated at the VC Corner Australian Cemetery and Memorial at Fromelles.

In their grief, his family wrote the following poem to a local newspaper:
“He sleeps not in his native land,
but under foreign skies;
He died the helpless to defend,
an Australian soldier’s noble end”.

John Dewsnap was 38 years old.

Just months after his family received the sad confirmation that he had fallen in France, his younger brother Claude was killed in action fighting near Westhoek in Belgium.

Private John William Dewsnap’s 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 John William Dewsnap, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.