Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"Death of Major A. W. Nash. LETTERS FROM THE FRONT.    

Brief reference was made in a recent issue to the manner in which the late Major A. W. Nash, of this city, met his death in Gallipoli. By the last mail Mrs. Nash has received letters from a number of officers with whom the late Major Nash served with which the writers testify to the great personal loss and shock they have all sustained through the sad occurrence. As Major Nash was so well known and esteemed in Gympie a reproduction of several of the letters, which have been placed at our disposal by Mrs. Nash, will no doubt, prove of the widest interest. One officer writes under date July 8:

"I write sorrowfully to tell you that your husband, Major Allan Nash was killed in action on the night 29-30 June and died in our lines. Major Nash had just received orders and replied "Yes, Sir," when the shot from the Turkish lines came down the path and struck him in the head, and he fell on the field of honour. Without pain he passed away to his God. I write, to tell you how much I appreciated the worth of your husband as a Christian man and a true soldier. He was very regular at Church services and always bore himself with honor. We knew that we had his support in the good work we were trying to do, and it must be comforting to you to know how highly he was thought of by officers and men. We laid his body in the grave on the night of the 30th June. He was attended by four officers and many of his N.C.O.s and men to his last resting place. The chaplain (C.E.) attached to the 2nd regiment took part of the service. The night was wild, dark, and stormy, and an attack broke out on the heights as we bore his body down the track to the burial ground, but we had the service in all reverence and honor. His grave is marked with a strong wooden cross, painted, and with his name on it; so that I do not think there is any likelihood whatever of the identity of the spot ever being lost." 

Another officer's letter says:

"It was given to me perhaps more than to any other Queensland officer to choose volunteers for service holding the best qualified names in Queensland. Your husband was one of the first selected and not entirely because of his military experience, which was large, but of his sterling worth and his trustworthy integrity. He was prompted to the rank of Major on Major Graham's unfortunate death, but it was willed that he should not long enjoy the rank. At the time he was hit I was standing beside him when he received final instructions for the fight that was developing. He said: "Yes, Sir," and fell at my feet. No man could have proved himself pluckier or a better soldier, and he has left a vacant place here that it is very hard to adequately fill." After expressing the writer's keen personal sympathy, the letter concludes: "I can say no more than that my regrets are shared equally by all those in the regiment with whom he had come in contact."      

Another officer writes: "Allan was killed just as an attack by the enemy commenced on the 29th June. Not only the regiment but the whole brigade felt the loss of such a brilliant painstaking and conscientious officer very keenly, and their sympathy goes out to you and your laddies in your great loss. Personally I cannot express how much I will miss him. We were associated together in military matters for such a long time that I was able to appreciate his soldierly, gentlemanly, and straightforward qualities. All the Gympie boys attended his funeral. Another of the officers who was more intimately associated with Major Nash than perhaps any officer, says: "His untimely end is the greatest shock the regiment has yet been called upon to hear. Every man in it feels that he has lost a leader and friend who cannot be replaced. My heartfelt sympathy is with you and poor little Dug and Colin, and I trust that the knowledge that his noble life was lost in the defence of his country, and following a calling to which his whole life has been devoted, will make your sorrow easier." In his letter of sympathy, in conclusion, one of the writers says "that his body was laid to rest by the side of two comrades of his LH squadron, who fell on the same fatal night." - from the Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette 07 Sep 1915 (nla.gov.au)