The Australian soldier who rushed four German machine-gun nests has been named an honorary citizen of the Somme
Denied citizenship by the country he died for, this Anzac Day Aboriginal war hero Bill Allen is being honoured in France
Outside the French town of Péronne on 31 August 1918, Private William Allen Irwin – a Gomeroi man from near Coonabarabran in New South Wales – was pinned down by German machine-gun fire alongside fellow Australian soldiers from the 33rd infantry battalion.
They had been ordered to wrest control of enemy-held positions in an area known as Road Wood during the battle of Mont St-Quentin.
In the face of heavy fire Allen rushed three machine-gun nests, capturing the weapons and crews. The job not done, he tried to capture a fourth, where he was fatally wounded. He died the next day.
Despite his bravery, for which he was posthumously awarded the distinguished conduct medal, Bill Allen was never recognised as a citizen of his own country.
Now, more than 106 years later, he has been made an honorary citizen of France’s Somme Valley.
