Percy John RODRIGUEZ

Regimental number4478
Date of birth1893
Place of birthBroome, Western Australia
ReligionRoman Catholic
OccupationDental student
AddressClaremont, Western Australia
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation23
Next of kinFather, F Rodriguez, Claremont, Western Australia
Enlistment date1 June 1915
Rank on enlistmentActing Sergeant
Unit name23rd Battalion, 11th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/49/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board RMS Malwa on 23 April 1916
Regimental number from Nominal RollCommissioned
Rank from Nominal Roll2nd Lieutenant
Unit from Nominal Roll23rd Battalion
Promotions

2nd Lieutenant


Unit: 23rd Battalion
Promotion date: 26 January 1917

FateKilled in Action 20 March 1917
Age at death from cemetery records24
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
100
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Filomeno and Maud RODRIGUEZ, Continental Hotel, Broome, Western Australia
Other details

War service: Western Front

Appointed Corporal, 2 December 1916; Temporary Sergeant, 5 December 1916; commissioned 26 January 1917.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal