Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"At the age of 21 Constable Eugene Nugent joined the Queensland Police and was sworn in as a constable on the 10 of March 1915. Nugent embarked aboard the HMAT Shrophire A9 from Sydney as part of the 25th Infantry Battalion on the 20 of August 1915. He was promoted to Lance Corporal during training and retained this rank on his arrival at Gallipoli. Lance Corporal Eugene Nugent was killed by a bomb fragment which struck him in the forehead on 15 of October 1915, just three days after he arrived at the front. He was 23 years of age." - SOURCE (www.police.qld.gov.au)

# 1723 NUGENT Eugene                                 25th Battalion
 
Eugene Nugent was born on 23rd May 1892 at Ipswich. His family were farming at Glamorgan Vale between Walloon and Fernvale on the Brisbane Valley Line. As a boy, Eugene attended the Kirchheim State School (Now Haigslea) near Marburg after which he worked on the family farm. In 1911, Gene began employment with Queensland Government Railways as a cleaner at Marburg. In 1913, He began an application to join the Queensland Police Force. His application was accompanied by statements from Constable Hornibrook of Marburg and Mr Sakrzewski, the publican of the Marburg Hotel, and The Head Teacher of Kirchheim State School, each attesting to Gene’s good character. Part of the application process was that candidates had to complete an examination of their ability in arithmetic and dictation. Gene attended the Police Depot in Romas Street to undergo the examination where he was adjudged to be Very Fair at reading and horseriding but poor at writing; with an overall rating of Fair. Eugene was accepted and after a period of training at the Polce Barracks was sworn in as a Police Constable on 30th September 1913.
 
Gene began his police career at the depot stables in Roma Street before being posted to Esk on 20th January 1914. In May of that year, he transferred to Toogoolawah where he was stationed for over a year before writing to the Police Commissioner requesting permission to enlist in the AIF. Permission was granted and before departure from Toogoolawah, Gene was presented with a watch by the Toogoolawah community.
 
Gene attended the Brisbane Recruiting Depot on 2nd June 1915. He informed the officer that he was a 23 year old police constable and named his father, Owen Nugent of Glamorgan Vale, as his next of kin. Once accepted into the AIF, Gene proceeded to Enoggera where he was placed into the 2nd reinforcements of the 25th Battalion. When he arrived at Enoggera, the original 25th Battalion was preparing to embark for overseas. The 1st and 2nd Reinforcements remained in camp for additional training; they would depart for overseas on 20th August 1915 aboard the “Shropshire.” The embarkation roll shows # 1723 Eugene Nugent, Police Constable, aged 23 had allocated 4/- of the daily pay of 5/- to his parents.
 
The “Shropshire” arrived in Egypt in late September and the reinforcements went into camp at Tel el Kabir. The 25thBattalion “originals” had landed on Gallipoli on 11th September and went into the line to relieve exhausted and depleted battalions from the fierce battles of the previous August. The failure of the August offensives put an end to any aggressive actions by the AIF and the Australians and New Zealanders adopted a more defensive posture. Nevertheless, men were wounded or killed almost every day, and many more had to be taken out sick. The 1st and 2ndReinforcements were put ashore at Watson’s Pier on the night of 12th October. Gene was by that time a Lance Corporal.
 
The war diary of the 25th Battalion has no entry for the first 15 days of October 1915 but an inspection of the record for the previous month and the record from 16th October onwards suggests that the 25th was in trenches at lower Cheshire Ridge. 37 men had gone out sick in September; eight men received wounds from bombs and four were killed. It was reported that on 15th October, Eugene Nugent was wounded in the head from a bomb blast. He was carried down to the 7th Field Ambulance on a stretcher but was pronounced dead upon arrival at the aid post. Gene had been at Gallipoli for three days. He was 23.
 
Gene was buried in a temporary cemetery near the Aid Post at Chailak Dere with a Fr. Brennan in attendance. His father signed for a few of his son’s personal possessions which consisted of an identity disc, a presentation watch (the gift from the Toogoolawah community), a rosary and crucifix, letters and cards and an atlas. After the withdrawal of the Anzac Force from Gallipoli in December 1915, the cemetery at Chailak Dere, and indeed the entire battlefield was abandoned and remained undisturbed until Australian Graves Registration Units returned to Gallipoli in 1919. In the intervening four years, weather had obliterated many of the wooden grave markers and the site of Eugene’s burial was unable to be discovered. The site was renamed the Embarkation Pier Cemetery and a special memorial stone was erected with a list of names “believed to be buried in this cemetery.” Eugene Nugent is commemorated on that stone which bears the inscription: THEIR GLORY SHALL NOT BE BLOTTED OUT.