Served in the Australian Army - Australian Naval & Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) and First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF). Served at New Guinea 1914-1915 and Gallipoli 1915. 1501 Sgt. Ernest George Beesley 38, life assurance agent was born in London, England. He lived with his wife and eight children in Union Road, Auburn. Prior to enlisting in the AIF, Beesley had extensive military experience serving in the 4th Middlesex Royal Regiment in Britain, in the 21st Battalion Imperial Yeomanry (sharpshooter) in the South Africa (Boer) War and in The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force. On 16 August 1914, Beesley enlisted in the AN&MEF, which was raised with the aim of capturing German colonies in the Pacific and of silencing German Wireless communications in the region. Beesley was with the force aboard the Berrima when it set sail from Sydney’s Cockatoo Island on 19 August 1914. Discharged from the AN&MEF 4 March 1915, Beesley enlisted in the AIF just a month later. He was almost immediately promoted to Sergeant, then embarked, coincidentally again on the Berrima, on 24 June 1915. Arriving on the Gallipoli peninsular on 3 August 1915, he was killed by a bomb 26 days later. Initially buried at Victoria Gully, he was later reinterred in the Lone Pine Cemetery. Beesley’s wife requested the following for his headstone but it was rejected as too long: NEVER THE LOTUS CLOSES, NEVER THE WILDFLOWER WAKES. BUT A SOUL GOES OUT ON THE EAST WIND THAT DIED FOR OLD ENGLAND’S SAKE.