100 Kiwi Stories: Captain a real Anzac hero

Captain Alfred Shout was awarded the Victoria Cross and Military Cross for service at Gallipoli.

VC winner fought at siege of Mafeking before suffering grievous wounds at Gallipoli.

57 Victoria Cross recipient Alfred Shout was the embodiment of an Anzac soldier.

Important chapters in his life took place on both sides of the Tasman and he is remembered with pride in New Zealand and Australia. A barracks at Linton Army Camp is named after him, and his highest honour - the Victoria Cross - was donated to the Australian War Memorial by media mogul Kerry Stokes, who bought it at auction for $1.5 million.

Shout fought with distinction in one of the last wars of the 19th century, and with bravery in World War I, the first great conflict of the 20th century. He went to the Boer War in South Africa with the New Zealand contingent, and donned the uniform of the Australian Imperial Force at Gallipoli.

His courage on the battlefield was immense.

Even when he was grievously wounded at Gallipoli he was said to have remained cheerful as he was assisted from the conflict. Accounts from the time say Shout, having lost his right hand and his left eye when a bomb blew up as he was about to throw it, stayed conscious as he was helped from the front line. As his wounds were tended, Shout drank tea and sent a message to his wife Rose back in Sydney.

The only son of London-born cook John Shout and his Irish wife Agnes, Alfred Shout was born in Wellington. He was the eldest of nine. New Zealand birth records say he was born in August 1881, though his Australian military service file cites August 8, 1882 as his birth date.

As a teenager, he learned carpentry skills, but clearly was keen on the armed services because he volunteered for the New Zealand force which headed to the Boer War.

In January 1901, at the famous Siege of Mafeking, under the command of Colonel Robert Baden-Powell - of Scouting fame - Trooper Shout was wounded twice and got his first Mention in Despatches: "Under heavy fire he brought out of the firing line a wounded man ... and took him to a place of safety."

Binoculars Shout used in the Boer War are held in the Waiouru Army Museum. Damage to an eyepiece is thought to have occurred when Shout fell off his horse.

In 1905 he married Australian-born Rose Howe in Cape Town. With their daughter, Florence Agnes Maud, Alfred and Rose sailed from South Africa for Sydney, where they settled in Darlinghurst.

Alfred got a job as a carpenter with a brewery and signed on with a citizen force. When Australia joined Britain at war with Germany, Shout, having obtained a commission as a 2nd lieutenant, enlisted with the AIF. On April 25, 1915 Shout was in the thick of battle with the 1st Battalion when it landed at Gallipoli.

On April 27 he led his men on the tough scrubby peninsula while under heavy Turkish fire, and was awarded the Military Cross for his gallantry. In the space of two weeks he was wounded twice, but remained in the fray.

Promoted to captain, Shout was back in the trenches for the Battle for Lone Pine, a savage, bloody three-day assault. With Captain Cecil Sasse and eight volunteers, the soldiers charged along a Turkish trench, Shout encouraging the men and hurling bombs at the enemy. The daring tactic was repeated, and then tried again when it went terribly wrong. One of Shout's bombs exploded in his right hand, leaving him grievously injured.

Helped from the battle Shout was taken on board the hospital ship Euralia. He died of his wounds on August 11 and was buried at sea. His posthumous VC was gazetted on October 15, 1915.

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