The AIF Project

Frederick GARTUNG

Regimental number1718
Place of birthGalston
SchoolGalston Public School
ReligionMethodist
OccupationOrchardist
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation18
Height5' 5"
Weight114 lbs
Next of kinMother, Mrs Susan Gartung, Galston via Hornsby, New South Wales
Previous military serviceNil (exempt area)
Enlistment date8 February 1916
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll15 January 1916
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name44th Battalion, 1st Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/61/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A29 Suevic on 6 June 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll28th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularThis lad was only 15 years when he enlisted and had not long left school, but his ardour to serve his country at such a tender age was the cause of others enlisting. (details from Susan Gartung, Mother)
FateKilled in Action 03-6 November 1916
Place of death or woundingFlers, France
Age at death17
Age at death from cemetery records18
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
113
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Son of Mrs Susan GARTUNG, Galston, New South Wales
Family/military connectionsBrothers: 1078 Pte Fedor GARTUNG, 4th Bn, died of wounds, 12 September 1918; 554 Pte Leopold GARTUNG, 20th Bn, effective abroad (still overseas).
Other details

Embarked Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A40 Ceramic on 14 April 1916, as 5385, 4th Bn, 17th Reinforcements.

Disembarked Fremantle, western Australia, 20 April 1916 (sick).

War service: Western Front

Proceeded overseas to France from England, 16 September 1916; taken on strength, 28th Bn, Belgium, 26 September 1916.

Reported missing in action, 3-6 November 1916; subsequently determined as killed in action, 3-6 November 1916.

Buried in 'The Maze' and 'Blue Cut'; grave subsequently lost.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, GARTUNG Frederick

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