Henry George HALE

Regimental number964
Place of birthMorwell, Gippsland, Victoria
SchoolState Schools
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationFarmer
AddressDorakine, Wickepin, Western Australia
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation25
Next of kinFather, Stanley Thomas Hale, Dorakine, Wickepin, Western Australia
Enlistment date18 May 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll4 May 1915
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name28th Battalion, C Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/45/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A11 Ascanius on 29 June 1915
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A36 on 12 July 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll28th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularWent into CampMay 8th, and sailed for Egypt in June, 1915 with original 25th Bn. Wounded at Gallipoli, December 1915. Reported for duty June 1916, patrol duty in canal for some weeks and left for France in March 1916.
FateKilled in Action 04-6 August 1916
Place of death or woundingPozieres, Somme Sector, France
Age at death26.3
Age at death from cemetery records26
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
113
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: thomas and Emily HALE, Keane Street, Belmont Park, Western Australia
Family/military connectionsHis brother Pte T.L. Hale No. 1716 wounded at Pozieres on 5th August. Died at Bonlinge on 23rd August, 1916.
Other details

War service: Western Front

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal