Last two standing at Lone Pine defied bullets, bombs

The Turks attacked in darkness before dawn with a deadly barrage of hand-thrown bombs.

At the centre of the maelstrom, Cpl William Dunstan of the 7th Battalion and nine others braved the rain of bullets and explosives, firing over a sandbag parapet to halt an implacable enemy tide threatening to overwhelm their newly captured trench at Lone Pine.

It was August 9, 1915, and soon only three men – including Cpl Dunstan – remained to resist the enemy.

William Dunstan was born on March 8, 1895, in Ballarat. After leaving school at 15, he worked as a delivery boy and clerk.

An army cadet, he enlisted on June 2, 1915, after war broke out and was posted to the 7th Battalion as a private. Barely three days before his pivotal part in the desperate stand at Lone Pine on the Gallipoli Peninsula, he was promoted to acting corporal.

In a diversion intended to trick Turkish commander Essad Pasha into moving troops away from the main Anzac push, the 7th Battalion captured the Lone Pine trench at great cost on August 6.

If anything, the diversion was too affective. In the early hours of August 9, Cpl Dunstan and 10 others bore the brunt of the Turkish counterattack on their position, Goldenstedt’s Post.

Soon after the assault began there were immediate heavy losses and only a handful of soldiers were left to repair the parapet and hold off the enemy after an explosion virtually demolished their defences. With two companions, Lt Frederick Harold Tubb and Cpl Alexander Stewart Burton, Cpl Dunstan held the line.

Then disaster struck.

A second explosion, which hurled the trio from their feet, all but destroyed the sandbag parapet and the way was clear for the enemy to advance.

Under heavy fire, Cpl Dunstan and Cpl Burton again repaired the parapet until a bomb landed between them, killing Cpl Burton and severely wounding Cpl Dunstan.

Lt Tubb, also wounded, managed to get reinforcements from the next post, Tubb’s Corner, and with Cpl Dustan they rebuilt the parapet again after another blast tore it apart.

Temporarily blinded and with what official records said were “gunshot wounds”, Cpl Dunstan and Lt Tubb held the enemy at bay against impossible odds until reinforcements arrived and the Turks lost heart.

Later that day, Cpl Dunstan was evacuated for medical attention and sent to Alexandria to recuperate.

For his heroism, he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

But he never fully recovered his eyesight and was sent back to Australia in September and was medically discharged months later.

Of the brave men in that trench at Lone Pine, only he survived the war.

Said to be a humble man who disliked public attention and was haunted by his experiences at Gallipoli, his VC medal was kept in a box under the stairs in his home, his bravery never discussed with his wife and three children.

Despite his injuries, Cpl Dunstan became general manager of accounts at the Herald and Weekly Times newspapers.

He volunteered to fight in World War II but was rejected on medical grounds.

In 1957, a heart attack managed what the might of the Turkish army could not and more than 800 people, including seven VC winners, attended his funeral.