Robert GARRETT

Regimental number471
Place of birthGlenferrie, Victoria
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationBookkeeper
AddressAlexandra Avenue, Surrey Hills, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation25
Height5' 11"
Weight154 lbs
Next of kinHenry Garrett, Alexandra Avenue, Surrey Hills, Victoria
Previous military serviceServed for 2 years in the Scottish Regiment, Citizen Military Forces.
Enlistment date18 August 1914
Place of enlistmentAlbert Park, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentCorporal
Unit name5th Battalion, C Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/22/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board Transport A3 Orvieto on 21 October 1914
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll5th Battalion
FateReturned to Australia 5 October 1915
Discharge date9 March 1916
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli

Transferred by HS 'Royal George' to Malta, 10 May 1915 (rheumatism); admitted to St Andrew's Hospital, 18 May 1915.

Employed as Military Clerk (unfit), 6 August 1915.

Found guilty, 30 August 1915, of being absent without leave: admonished.

Embarked Malta for Egypt, 5 October 1915.

Commenced return to Australia from Suez on board HS 'Kanowna', 20 October 1915; discharged (medically unfit), Melbourne, 9 March 1916.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

Soldier wrote to Base Records, 24 September 1930, seeking confirmation of details of his military record, in particular regarding the disability of his right hand: 'A certain person here in Broome has been making a slanderous statement about my war record, so I am writing to you to obtain a few particulars from my Medical History Sheet to enable me to take proceedings against him for defamation ... [T]here is one query which I want to be most emphatic about, and that is in regard to a disability to my right hand. The person mentioned above has circulated a report (which he says he can prove) that I shot off my own two fingers and was returned to Australia in disgrace. Will you please deny this and state whether uit is a war wound, or was caused previous to enlistment.'

Base Records replied, 21 October 1918, that 'Your Medical History Sheet discloses that at the time of enlistment you were minus the index and middle fingers of the right hand.'
Date of death26 October 1960
Age at death71
Place of burialAIF Cemetery (Row 15A, Grave 47), West Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia
SourcesNAA: B2455, GARRETT Robert