The AIF Project

Patrick SEXTON

Regimental number640
Place of birthYarram, Victoria
Other NamesPatrick John
ReligionRoman Catholic
OccupationFarmer
AddressStacey's Bridge, West Alberton, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation19
Height5' 11.5"
Weight161 lbs
Next of kinMrs C. Sexton, Stacey's Bridge, West Alberton, Victoria
Previous military serviceWas a member of the Stacey's Bridge Rifle Club for 3 years.
Enlistment date16 September 1914
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name4th Light Horse Regiment, 1st Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number10/9/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A43 Barunga on 22 December 1914
Rank from Nominal RollCorporal
Unit from Nominal Roll2nd Light Horse Regiment
FateKilled in Action 17 April 1918
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 7), 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
9
Medals

Military Medal


Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 95
Date: 27 June 1918

Other details

War service: no details of activities in 1915 recorded on personal dossier.

Temporarily attached to Anzac Headquarters, 15 January 1916. Rejoined 4th Light Horse Regiment, 2 February 1916; taken on strength, 'D' Squadron, 11 March 1916.

Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 10 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 17 June 1916. Taken on strength, 2nd Anzac Mounted Regiment, 7 July 1916. Detached for duty with CRE, Armentieres, 26 September 1916; rejoined unit from detachment, 10 December 1916. Appointed Lance Corporal, 7 February 1917.

Detached to Anti-Aircraft Section, 2nd Anzac Corps, 11 April 1917; rejoined unit from detachment, 2 May 1917. Detached to AA Section, 2nd Anzac Corps, 21 June 1917; rejoined unit, 10 August 1917. On leave, 11 August 1917; returned from leave, 23 August 1917.

Promoted Temporary Corporal, 12 September 1917. Detached to Observation Party, 2nd Anzac Corps, 5 October 1917; rejoined unit from detachment, 24 October 1917. Promoted Corporal, 29 November 1917. Detached to School of Instruction, 6 December 1917; rejoined unit, 22 December 1917. Detached to AA Section, 2nd Anzac Corps, 27 December 1917; rejoined unit, 3 January 1918. Awarded Military Medal for bravery in the field. On leave to Paris, 5 March 1918; rejoined unit, 13 March 1918. Detached to AA Section, 2nd Anzac Corps, 15 March 1918; rejoined unit, 22 March 1918. Detached to 49th Division, 28 March 1918; rejoined unit, 12 April 1918. Detached to 9th Corps, 16 April 1918.

Killed in action, 17 April 1918.

Medals: Military Medal, 1914-18 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

Print format    


© The AIF Project 2024, UNSW Canberra. Not to be reproduced without permission.