The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (3867) Gunner Andrew Richard Larkin, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, 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 (3867) Gunner Andrew Richard Larkin, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, AIF, First World War.

3867 Gunner Andrew Richard Larkin, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, AIF
DOW 22 July 1917

Today we remember and pay tribute to Gunner Andrew Richard Larkin.

Andrew Richard Larkin was born on 12 August 1892, one of 14 children born to Michael and Catherine Larkin, near the town of Namurkah, Victoria. Larkin attended the local state school at Katunga, and later worked as a railway employee. Before the First World War, he gained valuable military experience serving with a local light horse militia while living at Casterton, Western Victoria.

Larkin enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 30 November 1914, and took his oath at Liverpool a few days later. Andrew was one of four Larkin brothers to serve in the First World War.

Larkin embarked from Sydney in February 1915 as a driver with the reinforcements of the 1st Divisional Ammunition Column. In July 1915, after training in Egypt, he requested to revert from the rank of driver to that of gunner, a role that would allow him to serve on Gallipoli. His request was granted, and he arrived on the peninsula a week after his older brother Michael had been killed in action charging with the 8th Light Horse Regiment at the Nek.

Larkin provided artillery support on Gallipoli until the end of October, when he was hospitalised by a stomach illness that saw him transferred to Egypt for recovery.

Larkin stayed in Egypt throughout early 1916 as the Australian Imperial Force underwent a process of growth and reorganisation after the evacuation from Gallipoli. In March, he sailed for France and the war on the Western Front.

In May, Larkin joined the 21 Field Artillery Battalion at Fleurbaix, near Armentieres in northern France. This region of the Western Front was known as the “Nursery Sector” where Australian units new to the war in Europe adjusted to the hardships and horror of trench warfare.

In mid-July they transferred south to the Somme region to provide artillery support for the Australian attack at the bloody battle of Pozieres. On the first day of this battle, 23 July, the batteries of Larkin’s artillery brigade at one point fired eight high-explosive rounds per minute on the German lines, to devastating effect.

On 2 November 1916 Larkin received a shrapnel wound to his left thigh and hip while he was relieving New Zealand artillery units at the front. His injury was so severe that he was sent to England for recovery. He did not return to France until late February 1917, and in April he joined the 1st Australian Field Artillery Brigade. With this unit Larkin provided artillery support for Australian troops who were following German troops retreating to the Hindenburg Line – a series of shortened and reinforced trenches designed to strengthen German defence capabilities.

In July, Larkin and the 1st Field Artillery Brigade moved north to the Ypres sector of Belgium. On 20 July, near Zillebeke in Belgium, Larkin’s battery came under German shell-fire, in which he received severe shell wounds to his left thigh. He evacuated to a nearby field ambulance for treatment, and the next day to the 2nd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station. This was the second time that Larkin had been severely wounded on his left thigh. The injuries sustained this second time were, however, too severe. At 10:30 am on 22 July 1917, he died as a result of the wounds sustained in battle two days earlier. He was 25 years old.

He is buried in the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium, where over 9,900 Commonwealth soldiers of the First World War now lie.

Gunner Andrew Richard Larkin 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 Gunner Andrew Richard Larkin, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section