Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Posted on Facebook, Australia and New Zealand in WWI group by Harry Willey

MYCHAEL. A.

#146 Driver Archibald Mychael
First Light Horse Brigade.
A Squadron. 1st Light Horse Regiment

Arch Mychael spent the last 15 days of his life fighting as an infantryman on Gallipoli. He had gone to Gallipoli, without orders, sailing from Alexandria with his brothers and his mate Ted Kiley who had been chosen as reinforcements for the 1st LHR who had suffered 88 casualties since landing at Gallipoli on 12 May.
Arch was twenty two years of age when he died on Saturday 21 August 1915 at a field ambulance station on the beach at ANZAC Cove. Following treatment for wounds he had received the previous day.
Archibald John Mychael was the youngest son of John Thomas Mychael and his wife, Ellen (Lynch), of Glen Rock Station, Moonan Flat. He was born at Omadale, Moonan Flat on 9 August 1893. Educated at a public school, he and his four brothers trained as members of the 6th light horse, a militia regiment.
Recently engaged to Ida Tilse, Arch was twenty one-years old and working as a shearer when war was declared. He and his brothers immediately volunteered for overseas service. Arch was accepted immediately, twenty seven year old Dennis and twenty eight year old Ken were accepted on 8 September 1914 while James and John were rejected as unfit for service by Dr Scott at their initial medical examination.
Arch stood 5 foot 8 inches (170cm) tall and weighed 10 stone 8 lb (67kg), he had a fair complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair. His religious denomination was Roman Catholic.
With twenty three fellow volunteers, twenty one of whom were serving members of the 6th Light Horse, Arch attended a farewell party at the Scone skating rink on the evening of 17 August. Together with four hundred well-wishers they partied until well after midnight. Five days later, at 5am, with the town band playing and five hundred people cheering, they boarded the first troop train from the north that conveyed volunteers to Sydney.
On 28 August, Arch was taken into A Squadron of the 1st Light Horse Regiment commanded by 33 year old Captain (later Major) James Moffatt Reid who had enlisted from the New England Light Horse. The squadron, made up from men from New South Wales, eighty per cent of whom had been born in Australia trained at Rosebery Racecourse for seven weeks before being ordered to be ready to embark for England within three days. During their training more than half of the squadron gained top marks as marksmen.
On 19 October, after a delay of four weeks due to reports of the German Cruisers Emden in the Indian Ocean and Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst in the Pacific. The 1st LHR, consisting of 24 officers, 484 men and 461 horses, embarked on HMAT A16 “Star of Victoria” at Woolloomooloo. The following morning the A16 left the sheltered waters of the harbour and sailed unescorted to Albany on the South-West coast of Western Australia. Here they formed a convoy to take the first contingent of troops from Australia and New Zealand to the war. Where the men of the light horse brigades were eager to match their skills against that of the British cavalry, on the Western Front.
On 28 November the men learnt that Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Chauvel upon finding their proposed training camp at Lark Hill unsuitable had arranged for them to disembark in Egypt on 8 December where he would join them. The 1st LHR then trained with the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade at Maadi as the NZ & A Division, commanded by Major-General Sir Alexander Godley. With the 1st Australian Infantry Division they soon became known as the ANZACs.
Chauvel then trained the 1st and 3rd LH Brigades to English standards of drill and discipline, while the 2nd LH Brigade under Colonel Granville Ryrie retained the Australian training routine.
On 15 February 1915 a treaty was negotiated between Turkey and the Allies whereas turkey would withdraw from the war in exchange for payment of Four Million Pounds, the talks broke down on 15 March after which the Allies made plans to attack Turkey. A decision that was to cost Australia, 2 1/2 Million pounds and 7,800 lives.
Ken, Arch and Dennis Mychael together with Ted Kiley, William Isted and Billy Pinkerton landed on Gallipoli on the evening of 5 August 1915. By 3am the following morning they had reached the 1st LHR position at Pope’s Hill. Where they were surprised to find that their mates who had left Egypt fit and healthy in May were now thin and haggard, with many covered in sores and affected by dysentery. After a meal of salted bully beef and hard biscuits, they prepared themselves for the planned attack on the Turkish trenches on Dead Man’s Ridge timed to begin at 4.30am the following morning. Discarding their tunics they sewed a square of white calico to the back of their grey flannel shirts.
Dennis Mychael volunteered as a bomb thrower with Lieutenant (later Colonel) Geoffrey Hamlyn Lavicount Harris, formerly a grazier at Tumut, who was to lead the first line of the storming party. Arch and Ken lined up with other members of A Squadron. With bayonets fixed to their unloaded rifles they were ordered to charge across the narrow end of the gully through the rifle and machine gun fire that emulated from the four lines of Turkish held trenches. The first line of the enemy trenches had been dug by the British 13th Battalion during their unsuccessful attack against this position on 2 May. Used only at night by the Turks it was only 10 yards from the Australians take off point.
Despite heavy casualties, the men of A Squadron soon captured the first two lines of trenches. They were then joined by Major William Thomas Glasgow DSO and B Squadron, who had launched their attack from Waterfall Gully, directly below Dead Man’s Ridge. The Turks rallied and as the Australians attacked the third Turkish trench they suffered even greater casualties. Major Reid who led the attack from Pope’s was killed as he left the first trench.
Dennis Mychael and Lieutenant Harris were the first Australians to reach the third trench, a mere 50 yards from where they had commenced their charge. Both were wounded while attempting to reach the fourth trench, Dennis received a flesh wound to the leg and Lt Harris a wound to his back from an exploding bomb.
Lt (later Major) William Weir and a handful of men were the next to reach the third trench and although they were separated from Harris and Mychael both groups continued to bomb the fourth trench with bombs brought to them by Muswellbrook born #566 Cpl (later Lt) Bryan Irvine Keys, #437 Pte Roy Charles Tancred and #397 Pte Fred Barrow who had volunteered from C Squadron which had remained at Pope’s. For the next two hours as they sheltering in a small section of trench they could clearly see the dead and wounded of the 8th and 10th Light Horse Regiments who had charged simultaneously at a position known as the Nek.
As dawn broke, with the Turks still hurling bombs at them, Major Glasgow fearing all would be killed, led the survivors including the wounded, back to their starting point at Pope’s Hill.
During this action which Charles Bean, Australia’s official war correspondent had described ‘as showing self-sacrifice and heroism unsurpassed in history’ Arch Mychael had seen his mate Ted Kiley killed and his brothers Ken and Dennis wounded. Donald Crichton, Sid Lee and Billie Pinkerton were killed and Lt Arthur Andrew White, Joe Rowe and Stan Thurlow also from Scone were wounded. While Arch returned twice into No-Man’s Land to rescue wounded comrades, his brothers Ken and Dennis were evacuated and later taken to a hospital in Heliopolis.
Arch, and fellow Sconeite’s Alf Harper, William Isted and Roy De Alevion were four of only 42 men who survived the charge physically unscathed.
Of the 198 men who fought in this battle, 59 were killed and 95 were wounded. Many of the wounded including Stan Thurlow died from their injuries.
Arch, deeply saddened by the loss of so many of his mates, was back in action the following day, his 22nd birthday, giving covering fire to the 1st Australian Infantry Battalion as they clung desperately to their hard won gains at Lone Pine.
Relieved by the 2nd LHR, the surviving men of the 1st LHR moved .to a nearby gully where they rested during the day returning to Pope’s each night to support the 2nd LHR.
Arch was interrogated regarding his presence on Gallipoli, he explained that he was glad that he had been there and taken his place in the charge, which he described as being like ‘Hell’ with bullets, bombs and shells coming from all directions. He said there was no time to be afraid, he had just charged the Turks as he would have charged his opponents on the football field. He told how he had had only seven hours sleep during the 102 hours he had been on the peninsular and due to the loss of so many of his mates from Scone he felt terribly lonely. Remaining in the line he had no way of knowing his brother John had successfully enlisted on 18 August. After volunteering on the 13th John left Scone on the mid-day train on 17 August for Sydney where he was attested and passed fit for service the following day, entering camp, just three days before Arch died. John served with the 1st LHR in the Middle East.
The day before he was wounded Arch had written a letter to his sisters telling them he was pleased his brother Jim had again been rejected as unfit for service. He was convinced that three members of the family serving was sufficient, pointing out that if his four brothers had been with him, they may well have all been killed at Dead Man’s Ridge.
Arch went on to tell his sister of Billie Pinkerton having been ‘shot while carrying one of our officers back to our trench’ he concluded saying that only he and three others from his troop had survived the charge.
Arch Mychael was wounded on 20 August at Walkers Ridge, although a reserve position, it was constantly under heavy shell and sniper fire during the day and at night it was attacked by enemy bombing parties. Arch died the following day and was buried in a grave at Shrapnel Valley Cemetery next to his mate Ted Kiley who had been killed two weeks earlier. An AIF Chaplain, Rev’d Ernest Northcroft Merrington, formerly of St Andrew’s Cathedral, Brisbane conducted the service. Arch is buried in Plot 4, Row C, Grave 13. Shrapnel Valley Cemetery which is 400 yards south-east of ANZAC Cove.

Ida Tilse, Arch’s fiancée, was working at the Woolooma post office when the cable sent to the Mychael family, informing them of Arch’s death was received.
Arch’s brother who had tried so hard to join his brothers in the army died 16 July 1918. A Memorial was placed on his grave in memory of Arch. Their mother, Ellen, died 10 June 1920, two years before Arch’s service medals; the 1914/15 Star #3074, the British War Medal # 3601 and the Allied Victory Medal #3601 were issued to the family.

On 17 March 1967, the Australian Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Harold Holt announced, that all living ANZACs would receive the Australian ANZAC Medallion and a lapel badge. The Medallion, which was cast in bronze and depicted Simpson and his donkey carrying a wounded soldier, would also be issued to the nearest living family member of a deceased ANZAC. Arch’s sister, Mrs Minnie Cone, the only surviving member of his family, applied for and received Arch’s medallion.

Arch Mychael’s name also appears on;

Memorial Panel, 2.
The Australian War Memorial. Canberra.

The Memorial outside the Scone War Memorial Swimming Pool.

The Roll of Honour at the Scott Memorial Hospital, Scone.

The Honour Rolls at;
Scone RSL Club.
Soldiers Memorial Hall at Moonan Flat.
Moonan Flat Union Church.