The Last Post Ceremony commemorating the service of (1910) Corporal Albert Fergusson, 53rd 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 Richard Cruise, the story for this day was on (1910) Corporal Albert Fergusson, 53rd Btn, AIF, First World War.

1910 Corporal Albert Fergusson, 53rd Btn, AIF
DOW 2 October 1918

Today we remember and pay tribute to Corporal Albert Fergusson.

Albert Fergusson was born in 1897, the youngest of eight children born to Eliza and John Fergusson of Balmain, Sydney. Known as “Bert” to his family, Fergusson attended Gladstone Park Public School in Balmain, then took an apprenticeship with the State Timber Yards, where he trained as a joiner. Fergusson was well-liked, and once in the military earned a reputation among his fellow soldiers as an excellent footballer. Prior to enlisting to serve in the First World War, Fergusson had gained valuable experience by serving in the 29th Battalion of the Citizen Military Forces, a local citizen’s militia.

Fergusson enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 10 January 1916, and after a brief period of training at Bathurst, embarked from Sydney for the war on the Western Front in Europe. Fergusson arrived in England in August 1916, continued training, and in November of that year joined the 53rd Infantry Battalion, which formed part of the 14th Brigade of the 5th Australian Division.

Fergusson joined the 53rd Battalion just in time to experience the uncommonly bitter and harsh winter of 1916 to 1917, the coldest winter in living memory. With his unit, Fergusson endured the hardships and horrors of trench warfare in the Somme region of northern France, and rotated between resting behind the front, and manning trenches under intermittent German artillery and machine-gun fire.

In March 1917, Fergusson and the 53rd Battalion took part in a series of front-line actions as Australian troops pursued German forces retreating to the Hindenburg Line, a series of well-defended trenches and fortifications designed to shorten and strengthen German defensive capabilities. Fergusson clearly distinguished himself in this period, and in May was promoted to the rank of lance-corporal.

Towards the end of 1917, the 53rd Battalion moved from the Somme region to the Ypres sector of Belgium, where British and Commonwealth forces were now concentrating their operations. On 26 September, they participated in the bloody Battle of Polygon Wood, in which Australia lost over 5,700 casualties in a single day. Fergusson was among the many Australians to be injured on this day when he received a gunshot wound to his left hand and wrist. His injuries were so severe that he was sent to England for recovery, and did not rejoin his unit until February 1918, when they were in the muddy and waterlogged reserve lines near Wytschaete in Belgium, a place the allied soldiers called “white sheet”.

Soon after his return to the front, Fergusson and his unit moved south once more to northern France, to the east of Amiens, where a renewed German attack was expected. Fergusson and the 53rd Battalion were defending a sector of the front to the north of Villers-Bretonneux when, on 17 April 1918, they came under a heavy German artillery and gas shell barrage. The bombardment lasted for nearly five hours, and as the wind was blowing their way, the men had to sit with their gas masks on until conditions improved.

Fergusson, unfortunately, was not able to protect himself from injuries from the gas, and was hospitalised for a second time in the war. His injuries were so severe that he was again sent to England for recovery. He would not return to his unit until September 1918. Shortly before his return, he was promoted once more, this time to corporal.

Just weeks after his return to the front, Fergusson and the 53rd Battalion took part in a major attack in the line near Bellicourt. This joint British, Australian and American attack was designed to capture a powerful series of German trenches known as the Le Catelet Line, as well as to secure an important tunnel over the Saint Quentin Canal.

Fergusson took part in the assault on the Le Catalet trenches. On 30 September, Fergusson and his unit marched in the darkness before dawn through a treacherous shell-holed and barbed-wired landscape. At about 6 am, the men of the 53rd Battalion leapt from their trenches into no man’s land – and into intense German machine-gun fire. They managed to reach their first objective, a series of old trenches in which they could find some protection, but after a few hours, they had to make a second advance on the strong German machine-gun positions.

As Fergusson leapt from his trench, he was struck almost immediately by machine-gun fire that caused severe wounds to his abdomen. He was dragged back into his trench to receive first aid, and was soon carried by stretcher to a nearby regimental aid post, and then to a casualty clearing station. He arrived at this station unconscious from his injuries, and died three days later on 2 October 1918. He was 21 years old.

He is buried in the Doingt Communal Cemetery Extension, to the east of Péronne, where over 400 soldiers of the First World War now lie.

Corporal Albert Fergusson 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 Corporal Albert Fergusson, who gave his life for us, for our freedoms, and in the hope of a better world.

David Sutton
Historian, Military History Section