DUTY CALLED HIM, HE OBEYED
HE HAD NO WISH TO ROAM
HE LOVED THE LAND HE LIVED IN
AND HIS DEAR ONES AT HOME

CAPTAIN HUGH CORNELIUS BUCKLEY

AUSTRALIAN INFANTRY

27TH APRIL 1916 AGE 30

BURIED: RUE-DAVID MILITARY CEMETERY, FLEURBAIX, FRANCE


Hugh Buckley was an Australian born and bred, this was the country he loved. His wife, the mother of his two daughters, chose his inscription; these were his dear ones at home.
Buckley, who had been a member of the militia for eleven years, joined up in March 1915. He was soon promoted captain and adjutant of the 22nd Battalion, which left for Gallipoli on the 8 May. He was wounded nineteen days later. Hospitalised first in Malta and then in England, he didn't return to France until April 1916.
Having recently attended a grenade-handling course, Buckley was giving a course of instruction himself when a grenade exploded in his hand - he was killed instantly. A witness related what happened:

"He [Buckley] was at the bomb school giving instructions how to use a certain bomb, and this particular one if you hit it with your hand will go off, and poor old Buck said to them, don't hit it like this and he brings his hand down on it and hit the detonator, it exploded and killed three of them."