The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (6033) Private Gordon Maudsley Crane, 12th Btn, 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 (6033) Private Gordon Maudsley Crane, 12th Btn, AIF, First World War.

6033 Private Gordon Maudsley Crane, 12th Btn, AIF
KIA 23 September 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Private Gordon Maudsley Crane.

Gordon Crane was born on 14 November 1887, the eldest surviving child of John and Ada Crane. While Gordeon was born in Sandfly, Tasmania, when he was young his family moved to Strahan, on Tasmania’s west coast, where he grew up with his nine surviving brothers and sisters. Known to friends and family as “Bluey” on account of his red hair, he attended a local state school, and later worked as a bushman: felling Huon pines, hauling the logs to timber mills, and leading pack horses across the remote Tasmanian wilderness.

Crane was later educated at a Tasmanian University, and devoted great energy to ensure that his youngest sister Elvy also received a tertiary education. Crane’s father left the family when Gordon was still a young man, and after the death of Gordon’s grandfather in 1909, Gordon became the family’s chief breadwinner. Crane’s mother Ada was dependent on the money that he could make as a bushman, and then the pay he received while serving in the First World War.

Crane enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 2 May 1916 and after a brief period of training sailed from Hobart to England aboard the transport ship Ballarat. He arrived in England in September 1916 and continued his training.

Crane left England in early 1917, and on 10 March joined the 12th Infantry Battalion at Dernancourt in northern France. Crane spent his first few months on the Western Front experiencing the hardships and horrors of trench warfare. Australian troops were advancing as the Germans made an orderly retreat to a defensive position known as the Hindenburg Line, a series of well defended and fortified strong points that strengthened German defence capabilities. Later in the year, Crane and the 12th Battalion transferred north to Belgium, near Ypres.

On 20 September 1917, Crane and the 12th Battalion took part in the battle of Menin Road, to the east of Ypres. Australian troops advanced along a wide front with the support of heavy artillery fire. They encountered strong German defences, including concrete pillboxes, but successfully held their ground. Australian forces sustained over 5,000 casualties on this day.

In January 1918, while in Wulverghem, Belgium, Crane fell sick in the terrible winter conditions with pneumonia and was hospitalised for over a month. He rejoined his unit while they manned support trenches near the Ypres-Comines Canal. On the day of his arrival, his unit came under days of heavy German artillery and machine-gun fire. Crane spent the next seven months in a cycle of leave, hospitalisation for illness and injury, training and front line duties.

On 18 September 1918, Crane and the 12th Battalion took part in a significant action in the front lines to the east of Jeancourt, in northern France. In the early hours of the morning, in dark and rainy conditions, the troops marched to their start positions, and when ordered advanced towards the German trenches with close mortar fire support. They encountered German machine-gun fire, and on reaching the German trenches were involved in heavy fighting. The attack successfully secured the German trenches and captured 300 German prisoners.

Just five days later, on 23 September 1918, the 12th Battalion was in the process of leaving the front line trenches for a period of rest when their section of the front came under intermittent German artillery fire. Private Gordon Crane was killed instantly when a shell burst near him and caused severe wounds to his chest. He was 32 years old.

Crane was buried near where he fell, but due to the chaotic nature of fighting on the Western Front, the location of his grave was lost. Today, his name appears on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France, which lists the names of over 10,000 Australians of the First World War who have no known grave.

Crane was killed weeks before the end of the First World War, on the last day that his battalion would spend in the front line trenches. Not long before his death, he had written a postcard home to his mother informing her that he was okay, and that he was soon going to be relieved back to Australia. She found out about the death of her son on a notice placed on the Strahan Post Office wall.

Private Gordon Maudsley Crane is 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 Private Gordon Maudsley Crane, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section