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CLIVE Emerson Connelly was born in 1885 at Sandhurst / Bendigo to Thomas Jefferson and Frances Cresswell Connelly, nee Reynolds.
He was only a toddler when his father filled the mayoral chair on the Sandhurst council.
Clive Connelly was a 29-year-old-barrister and solicitor before being appointed captain in the AIF on October 9, 1914. He embarked for overseas with D Company from Melbourne on December 22, 1914, per HMAT Ulysses.
He was wounded in action at Gallipoli on May 2, 1915, and evacuated for medical treatment. Three days after returning to Gallipoli, he was killed in action near Hill 60 on August 27, 1915, and is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli.
His only brother, Major Eric Winfield Connelly DSO, 3rd Australian Division Headquarters, died of wounds in France on September 9, 1918.
The Bendigonian, Thursday, December 9, 1915. HOW MAJOR CONNELLY DIED.
Private John Field, of D Co., 14th Batt., served under the late Major C.E. Connelly, and he was able to give some details of the manner in which that officer met his death. Private Field is of an observant character, and his story of the fighting in which he participated after the famous landing was full of little incidents which would escape the eyes of most soldiers.
Speaking of Major Connelly, Private Field said that he took part in the landing and in the subsequent heavy fighting. After reaching the Gallipolian shore, Major Connelly led a bayonet charge in dashing style, being well out in front of his men.
He escaped injury until some three or four days after April 25, when he received a bayonet thrust through the fleshy part of the leg. He was sent to hospital, but so anxious was he to get back to the firing line that he returned before he had properly recovered, and he had only been there a day or two when he received his fatal wound - a bullet in the head.
Private Field described Major Connelly as one of the best officers possible. He treated all the men alike, and was utterly fearless of danger. The men of the 14th. Batt. greatly regretted their officer's death. (Major Connelly was twice wounded, and it was after his third appearance at Gallipoli that he was killed.) Private Field himself, after being continuously under fire for a fortnight without injury, then had his left arm shattered by an explosive bullet and the limb had to be amputated at the elbow.
Private Field was in the same platoon - the 13th - as Corporal A. Jacka, the first Victorian V.C., and he was an eye witness of the incident that won Jacka the V.C. In describing the feat, Private Field said Lieutenant Hamilton, of the 14th Batt., was unlucky not to have gained the honour.
Lieut. Hamilton shot three Turks and rushed out to capture the trench subsequently taken by Jacka, but was shot dead, receiving a bullet in the head. Jacka followed him up with a few comrades.
Jacka kept the front of the trench covered while his mate, Private McNally, went back under heavy fire for some hand grenades, He procured these, and used them with good effect on the Turks, but had the misfortune to have three fingers blown off through the last grenade exploding prematurely because of a short fuse.
Jacka shot three Turks and held the front of the trench until the Australians worked through from the other end, 'thus accounting" for all the Turkish occupants.
Private Field, who is a butcher by trade, is a native of Kent, England, where his parents live. He emigrated to Victoria and had been here about 12 months when the war broke out, and he immediately volunteered.