John Harry Fletcher

John Austin Mahony and John Harry Fletcher were best friends. They met staying at the same boarding house in Northcote, followed each other's football careers and on March 3, 1915, joined the army together. Fletcher trained as a teacher and taught at Princes Hill State School prior to enlisting. They had consecutive army serial numbers: Mahony 1056 and Fletcher 1057. They sailed to war on the troopship Euripides in May 1915, and fought together with the 24th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force. They survived the blackest days of Gallipoli, where Fletcher was wounded, Pozieres and Mouquet Farm in July to September 1916 when 23,000 of their countrymen died; they both won the Military Cross for bravery on the same day in October 1916; they survived Bapaume, Bullecourt, Menin Road and Polygon Wood in 1917 and both were promoted to the rank of captain. And they were perhaps 200m apart, at dawn on October 5, 1918 when they led their men on one last attack. Despite the knowledge that they were due to be relieved by American troops the following day, the Australian Second Division were sent into the last Australian action of the war to capture the little town of Montbrehain. Soon after 10am, Fletcher was killed by a shell that exploded nearby. An hour later, Mahoney was shot through the temple as he selected positions for machinegun posts. He died of wounds four days later. The final Australian action was a victory, but it cost 400 soldiers and 30 officers. The armistice to end "the war to end all wars" came 36 days later.