| Regimental number | 2901 |
| Date of birth | |
| Place of birth | Port Melbourne, Victoria |
| Other Names | Norman Willow |
| School | Newcastle Street State School, West Perth, Western Australia |
| Other training | Surveyor's Assistant |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Mill hand |
| Address | Como, South Perth, Western Australia |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 27 |
| Height | 5' 6" |
| Weight | 156 lbs |
| Next of kin | Mother, Mrs Alice Rumbald, cnr Thelma and Mary Streets, Como, South Perth, Western Australia |
| Previous military service | Nil |
| Enlistment date | |
| Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll | |
| Place of enlistment | Blackboy Hill, Western Australia |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 39th Battalion, 6th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/56/3 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A34 Persic on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 39th Battalion |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | Passchendaele, Ypres, Belgium |
| Age at death | 28 |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 28 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The 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 | 131 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Son of Alice Maria RUMBOLD (formerly TATE), 'Lockinge', Thelma Street, Como, Perth, Western Australia and the late Arthur TATE. Native of Victoria. |
| Family/military connections | Brother: 59 Sergeant Albert Leslie TATE, 10th Light Horse, returned to Australia, 19 April 1919. |
| Other details |
War service: Western Front Embarked Fremantle, 29 December 1916; disembarked Devonport, England, 3 March 1917. Marched in to 10th Training Bn, Larkhil, 21 March 1917. Proceeded overseas to France, 16 July 1917; taken on strength, 39th Bn, in the field, 4 August 1917. Wounded in action, 12 October 1917. Court of Enquiry, 4 April 1918, concluded: 'Killed in action, 12 October 1917.' Note on Red Cross File: 'No trace Germany. Cert. by Capt. Mills. 10.10.19.' Statement, 1361 Pte H.G. MORPHETT, D Company, 39th Bn (patient, Havre Hospital), 1 March 1918: 'He was in D. Company, 15th. Platoon. I knew him slightly. On the 12th. October we were attacking, our objective was Passchendaele Ridge. On the way over I saw Tate in a shell hole wounded. I spoke to him and asked him if he was very bad, he answered saying he did not think so. About 1½ hours after this were (sic) put back and retired to our original line about 3 p.m. which we held. The Germans did not follow us up at the time, but they were over the ground about 24 hours later.' Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal |
| Sources | NAA: B2455, TATE Norman
Red Cross File 2690707V |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
