Bethune A D Cpl 234 8th Light Horse Australian Imperial Force
BETHUNE, ALEXANDER DOUGLAS, Corpl., No. 234, 8th Light Horse, Australian Imperial Force, elder s. of the late Joseph Robert Douglas Bethune, of Westbury, and Cluny Ouse, Tasmania, by his wife, Sibella Maria, dau. of Alexander Paterson, of Vic-toria and nephew of the late Magnus Paterson, of Sale, and brother to Trooper N. McL. Bethune (q.v.); b. Cluny-on-Derwent, Tasmania, 16 Aug. 1879; educ. Hutchins School, Hobart, and Gippsland College, Sale (Victoria); was an Assayer by profession, later engaged in Irrigation Farming served in the South African War, 1900-2, with Roberts’s Horse and the Imperial Bushmen (Medal), also with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at the Dardanelles, 1915, and was killed in action there in the famous charge of the Light Horse at Walker’s Ridge 7 Aug. 1915. A comrade wrote: “Douglas Bethune was a grand man in a grand troop, not one of whom returned from the charge,” and another: Each man knew it was certain death, and anyone could have sprung back into the trench, but to their everlasting credit not one man drew back.” He formed one of the Australian Guard of Honour at the Coronation of King Edward VII., and had the Coronation Medal; unm.
Source : De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour Vol 5