3358 Private Ernest Richard Beesley, 22, was a son of Auburn Memorial man 1501 Sergeant Ernest George Beesley. A farmer, Ernest Richard enlisted on 4 November 1916 and embarked on the Ayreshire on 24 January 1917.
It is not clear why he was not taken on strength of the 42nd Battalion in France until 24 November 1917, just on a year after enlistment. Facing the German attack at Morlancourt, Beesley received a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was taken back to the Vignacourt Clearing Station, where he died of wounds on 7 April 1918. He was buried in the Vignacourt British Cemetery in France. An image of his gravestone and the cemetery are shown below. His mother requested the following lines from Mary Gilmore's poem These Fellowing Men be inscribed on his gravestone but they were rejected as too long:
Shine sun, shine upon them where they lie. And storm and winter pass them by. And darkness pleading to the Earth for light. Lean over them as mothers might. Lean over them and say good night, good night.