The AIF Project

Frederick James REYNOLDS

Regimental number1851
Place of birthMoss Vale, New South Wales
SchoolMoss Vale Public School, New South Wales
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationLabourer
Address'Brookdale', Berrima Road, Moss Vale, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation18.10
Height5' 7.5"
Weight128 lbs
Next of kinFather, Albert Reynolds, Moss Vale, New South Wales
Previous military serviceServed for 4 years in Senior Cadets; 6 months in 28th Light Horse Regiment, Citizen Military Forces.
Enlistment date14 April 1916
Place of enlistmentGoulburn, New South Wales
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name35th Battalion, 2nd Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/52/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A15 Port Sydney on 4 September 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll35th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 12 October 1917
Age at death20.4
Age at death from cemetery records20
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 25), Belgium

The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave.

The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936.

Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
126
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Albert and Emily REYNOLDS, 'Brookdale', Berrima Road, Moss Vale, New South Wales
Family/military connectionsBrother: 1179 Pte Albert Merworth REYNOLDS, Australian Flying Corps, returned to Australia, 4 March 1919.
Other details

War service: Western Front

Embarked Sydney, 4 September 1916; disembarked Plymouth, England, 29 October 1916.

Proceeded overseas to France, 20 December 1916; taken on strength, 35th Bn, in the field, 26 January 1917.

Found guilty, 12 May 1917, of after being detailed for Working Party, 7.45 pm, 11 May 1917, failing to attend: awarded 10 days' Field Punishment No 2.

Reported missing in action, 12 October 1917, after being provisionally reported sick.

Court of Enquiry, 15 May 1918, concluded: 'Killed in action, Belgium, 12 October 1917'.

Note on Red Cross File: 'No trace Germany. Cert. by Capt. Mills 10-10-19.'

Statement, 1425 Pte J. PEBBLEWICK MM, C Company, 35th Bn (patient, No 4 Australian General Hospital, Randwick, Sydney), 24 February 1919: 'Informant described Reynolds as about 5'8" high, slight build, reddish hair, aged about 21, believed to have come from the South Coast where his people were farmers. Informant states that they both belonged to C Company. On 12.10.1917 the Battalion was in action at Passchendaele. They hopped over at about 5 a.m. Informant was No. 1, and Reynolds No. 2 on the same Lewis Gun and they went over the top together. They also kept together for about half an hour and found themselves in a marsh. They were struggling to get through the marsh - Informant being in front of Reynolds and after an interval of about 10 minutes, he turned round to look for Reynolds and found that he had disappeared. He was never seen again and was reported as missing. Many shells were falling round about, and it is Informant's opinion that Reynolds must have been killed outright by a shell.'

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, REYNOLDS Frederick James
Red Cross File No 2280209N

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