Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Arthur, affectionately known as 'Buck' was born in Mackay, Queensland on 10 October 1885, the only child of Dr. Francis Meagher Geoghegan, an Irish born veteran of the Royal Navy & Rose Bawden Evans of Devon, England

He with his parents moved to Gympie where he was educated at the Private Grammar School & later apprenticed to Messer's Coombe & Son. Engineers

Buck was employed by the Queensland Lands Department as an Assistant Forestry Ranger for at Fraser Island & later for Isis Forestry at Good Night Scrub National Park in Bundaberg

He was also a member of his local Rifle Club & Trooper with the 13th Light Horse (QMI), No.3 Squadron, Gympie Militia

Upon the outbreak of war, Buck at the age of 28 enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at the Enoggera Camp on 23 August 1914 & was posted as 328 Trooper to the newly raised 2nd Light Horse Regiment alongside some 14 other Gympie lads including, Robert Glasgow who would later go on the serve as the Regiments Commanding Officer

Buck was allocated to B Squadron & the Regiment spent a short period of time training before embarking from Brisbane on board HMAT (A14) Star of England on 24 September, arriving in Egypt on 9 December, where they continued with training in the desert

In late January & early February 1915, the Regiment was involved in the Defence of the Suez, when a German–led Ottoman Army force advanced from Southern Palestine to attack the British Empire–protected Suez Canal, marking the beginning of the Sinai & Palestine Campaign. Substantial Ottoman forces crossed the Sinai peninsula, but their attack failed – mainly because of strongly held defences & alert allied defenders

With the majority of the Infantry having been committed to the Gallipoli Campaign in early April, arriving at the peninsular on the 25th, the Light Horse Regiments remained in Egypt, training & serving in a static defence role around the Suez Canal until mid–May, when they deployed to Gallipoli as dismounted reinforcements, to assist the infantrymen that had become pinned around the small (2km2) perimeter of Anzac Cove

The well–trained Light Horsemen converted into Infantrymen at three days’ notice & embarked at Alexandria on 9 May at 5:30pm bound for the Dardanelles

On the night of the 11th while anchored of Anzac Cove, they found a stowaway on board. He was an ingenious lad of 16 from Birmingham. He had deserted a trading vessel & this was the third transport he had boarded in the hope of effecting a landing, wanting as he put it "to go with the soldiers". His keenness was genuine even though he had seen shiploads of wounded being evacuated. The men all felt proud of his breed although of course, the CO had to see that he was kept on the transport & sent back to Alexandria

The following morning at around 6am, the men were loaded into open barges like camels & landed at Gallipoli. A few bursts of shrapnel greeted their arrival – TPR Elliott (318 William Alfred Elliott) received a slight wound on the head while stepping from the barge & although he wasn't evacuated, became the regiments first battle casualty

An hour after landing, they received orders along with vague directions, to move to Quinn's Post to aid in the defences there. They snaked their way up Shrapnel & Monash Gully "almost without casualty" (the 3rd LH Regt had about 30 casualties doing the same march the following morning) & reached their camp some 180m back from the front. The following day they relieved the 15th Infantry Battalion on the front line at Quinn's & by noon had taken charge of its defences where Buck was allocated to command a Bombing Section

Quinn's Post was known by the Anzacs as "hell on earth" & by the Turks as 'Bomba Sirt' (Bomb Ridge). It was the farthest Anzac post along the eastern branch of Monash Valley, that had been taken & held by a handful of New Zealanders & Australians through the wild night of the initial landing

These opposing forces were each clinging to the edge of their own slope, divided by a slightly crested, 30–40m strip of no–man's–land that was no wider than a road. For the next month, Quinn's became the centre of almost all the fighting at Anzac

These Queenslanders, many who were little more than boys, suffered heavily because of their inexperience in such a precarious position. The holding of Quinn’s was becoming a nightmare & it became vital to destroy old communication trenches from which the Turks were bomb-throwing

The Turks knew that fresh troops had taken over & on their first day in the trenches, greeted them saying, "Come on 2nd Light Horse –" as they opened up with such a fusillade of fire & bombing, that would startle any veteran. Its intensity was so terrific & deafening that the men couldn't hear each other speak – It was B Squadron that were first on the line under their OC Major George H. Bourne

Later that afternoon, a deserter in a 'Tommies cap' crept along the communication trench crying "Greek Greek". MAJ Bourne led him blindfolded down to Brigade HQ. He looked a piteous object of bewilderment & it seemed true that he was a Greek who had been living in Constantinople & pressed into service

During their second night on the firing line, 60 men of C Squadron led by their OC, MAJ Dugald M. L. Graham (a veteran of South Africa), went over the top at midnight & launched an assault on the Turkish trenches opposite their position. It was not more than ten minutes later, that MAJ Graham was carried back mortally wounded in the chest

The Turks had let the attacking party get to their front trench, then hit them heavily with well trained machine–gun fire that looked at point–blank range straight up the no–man's–land to Quinn's. Captain Birkbeck found the party severely reduced & failing to secure the enemy trench, he gave the order to retire to the safety of their lines at Quinn's – The attacking force suffered 13 men killed, including MAJ Graham, 9 missing (presumed killed) & a further 27 who were wounded, 2 of which subsequently died of their injuries

Just three days after arriving at Gallipoli, Buck was reported wounded in action, suffering a gunshot wound to his left foot on the 15th. It’s not exactly known how; being in charge of a Bomb Throwing Section, he may have been attached to C Squadron during their charge or possibly wounded while trying to rescue injured men from no–man's–land after their failed assault through the night

He was admitted to HMHS Gascon that day & subsequently evacuated to Alexandria, being admitted to hospital on the 19th

Buck re–joined the Regiment at Quinn's in early August. His service record mentions different dates as 3 & 21 August & the Regiments Unit War Diary shows reinforcements arrived back on the 6th (this could include Buck) just in time for the upcoming Offensive

The August Offensive aka the Battle of Sari Bair, began on the 6th & had as its main objective, to capture the peaks of Chunuk Bair & Hill 971 on the Sari Bair Range

In the early hours of 7 August, the 2nd LH Regiment launched their attack at the appointed hour in support of the 1st at Pope's & the 8th & 10th at the Nek

Though the assault was gallantly led by A Squadron’s OC, MAJ Thomas J. Logan, along with Lieutenant’s Joseph Burge of B Squadron & Arthur R. Norris of Regimental Headquarters, they were doomed to fail because the preconditions for the attack could not be met. Critically, the Turk MGs covering no–man's–land between Quinn’s & the Turk trenches were not destroyed or neutralized

With MAJ Logan & LIEUT Burge killed & LIEUT Norris wounded during the first wave attack, there was no valid reason for flinging away the later lines after the first had utterly failed. Thankfully, the Regiments Commander, Lieutenant–Colonel Robert M. Stodart, had not gone in the first wave & was able to make the decision to cancel further attacks, unlike their comrades of the 8th who’s CO, LT–COL Alexander White went over the top & was killed with the first wave at The Nek, subsequently forcing the remaining waves to also go up & over, only to be cut down just metres from their own lines

The Regiment lost 16 killed & 37 wounded of the 56 who charged in the first wave. Though this was in stark contrast to the 3rd LH Brigade who lost 372 of the 8th & 10th LH Regiments killed & wounded & the 1st LH Regiment who lost 50 men killed & 98 wounded at Dead Man's Ridge

Operations continued at day break & the Regiment stayed on the firing line until the 9th, when they were ordered to move & garrison Pope's Post where they remained until early September, when they were withdrawn from the line for rest & moved to positions at the old No.3 Outpost to improve trenches & lay down wire

It was here on 15 September while improving communication trenches, one man was reported to be killed. That man was 29 year old Buck Geoghegan. The exact manner of his death was not recorded, though Matron Gladys M. H. Thomas who was a Nurse at Lemnos mentioned in a letter home to Gympie, that Buck was shot in the back of the neck by a sniper while chopping wood. He was laid to rest in the Beach Cemetery near No.2 Outpost

The Regiments Commander, Lieut-Colonel Glasgow (whom Buck had served under in the Militia) wrote to his wife of Arthur's passing, stating "I am sorry to say since writing to you that Buck Geoghan has been killed. He only returned to us about 3 weeks ago, just before we came to this post & as he was lame (injured) he was put on an easy job at Brigade Head Quarters. However he found the job was meant for a signaller & as he was not very up on it he asked to be relieved. So we sent him with a small guard to the beach to watch a well & while there he was sniped. I do feel sorry for Mrs. Geoghan. Men here very rarely regret a pal, they think he has done his job or what is expected of him & that is the end of it. What they do feel for though is the women dependents of the fallen, & they all like to think that these women are cared for. I certainly hope Mrs. Geoghan will be looked after & that she will be given strength to bear the great loss that Buck will be to her"

No.1 & 2 Outposts were made by Nelson Company of the Canterbury Infantry Battalion on 30 April, for the burial of some of those killed when the 7th & 12th Australian Infantry Battalions landed nearby on 25 April. No.2 Post was the scene of heavy fighting at the end of May & it was one of the starting points for the Battle of Sari Bair. It contained the best well in Anzac, where the 16th Casualty Clearing Station & the New Zealand Dental Corps clinic were established close by

No.2 Outpost Cemetery was made during the occupation & in it, 152 Commonwealth servicemen of the Gallipoli campaign are buried or commemorated. Of the burials, 66 are unidentified & special memorials commemorate 48 casualties known or believed to be buried among them – Buck is one of those who has no know grave, but is he is memorialised on Embarkation Pier Cemetery (Special Memorial, B, 19), Gallipoli & his name is located on panel 3 in the Commemorative Area of the Australian War Memorial

Buck, unmarried & without children was described as "a most popular man who loved the outdoors" by both his Forestry Department colleagues & military mates alike. Sadly, Buck was the only & infinitely dear son of Dr. & Mrs. Geoghegan