3924 Pte Ernest John Pirani, 11th Bn AIF (B Coy).
Born at Armidale, Victoria in November 1896, Ernest was an apprentice fitter in Kalgoorlie, W Australia in civilian life. A keen footballer, Ernest enlisted into the AIF at Perth on 31 August 1915, having seen thirteen months service in a local militia unit. He joined his battalion at Habieta on 2 March 1916, and he landed at Marseilles, via Alexandria, on 5 April 1916 before moving northwards towards the Somme. It was on the Somme where, on 25 July 1916, Ernest was killed by a shell explosion at Pozieres during his battalion's first major action in France. His body was discovered next to a shell hole in what was, at the time of his death, no-man's land, Ernest was buried by men of the 9th Bn AIF (who returned his identity disc) but his grave was later lost. He is, therefore, now commemorated on the Australian Memorial at Villers Brettoneux.
25 July 1916
Research by David O'Mara, Croonaert Research Services.
