The AIF Project

Donald Gordon CAMPBELL

Regimental number765
Place of birthToorak, Victoria
SchoolMelbourne Grammar School
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationStation overseer
AddressGeraldton, Western Australia
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation29
Height5' 10"
Weight155 lbs
Next of kinJ.A. Campbell, Toorak, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date5 September 1914
Place of enlistmentBlackboy Hill, Western Australia
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name11th Battalion, G Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/28/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board Transport A11 Ascanius on 2 November 1914
Place of death or woundingMouquet Farm, Pozieres, France
Age at death31
Age at death from cemetery records31
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
152
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Jane and J. A. CAMPBELL. Born at Toorak, Victoria
Family/military connectionsBrother: 2nd Lt Walter Stanley CAMPBELL, London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers), British Army, killed in action, 7 October 1916.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Embarked Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (Gallipoli Campaign), 2 March 1915.

Wounded in action, Dardanelles, 25 April 1915; admitted to Egyptian Government Hospital, Alexandria, 1 May 1915; discharged, 3 June 1915.

Proceeded to unit from Overseas Base, Mustapha, 8 June 1915; rejoined 11th Bn, Gallipoli, 13 June 1915.

Promoted Temporary Corporal, 17 September 1915.

Disembarked Alexandria, 7 January 1916.

Transferred to 51st Bn, 29 February 1916; taken on strength of 51st Bn, Tel el Kebir, 1 March 1916.

Promoted Corporal, Tel el Kebir, 6 March 1916.

Promoted Sergeant, 15 March 1916.

Tried by Field General Court Martial, 20 May 1916, on charge of when on active service, conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline in that he at Serapeum about 2130 hours, 13 May 1916, was found drunk and creating a disturbance in the lines after lights' out; found Guilty: award, to take rank and precedence in the 51st Bn as if his appointment to the rank of Sergeant bore the date 20 May 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 5 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 12 June 1916.

Promoted Second Lieutenant, 26 August 1916.

Killed in action, 3 September 1916, during attack on Monquet Farm.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, CAMPBELL Donald Gordon

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