Regimental number | 869 |
Place of birth | Brunswick, Victoria |
School | South Melbourne State School, Victoria |
Religion | Church of England |
Occupation | Grocer |
Address | 88 Perry Street, Collingwood, Victoria |
Marital status | Single |
Age at embarkation | 21 |
Height | 5' 6" |
Weight | 157 lbs |
Next of kin | Father, L Heraud, 88 Perry Street, Collingwood, Victoria |
Previous military service | Nil |
Enlistment date | |
Place of enlistment | Melbourne, Victoria |
Rank on enlistment | Private |
Unit name | 21st Battalion, D Company |
AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/38/1 |
Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A38 Ulysses on |
Regimental number from Nominal Roll | Commissioned |
Rank from Nominal Roll | 2nd Lieutenant |
Unit from Nominal Roll | 21st Battalion |
Fate | Killed in Action |
Age at death from cemetery records | 23 |
Place of burial | No known grave |
Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, 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 | 94 |
Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: Thomas and Elizabeth HERAUD |
Medals |
Distinguished Conduct Medal 'For conspicuous gallantry when commanding bomb carriers in action. By his pluck and determination he kept up the supply in the front line where bombs were urgently needed. He also, on his return trips,helped to evacuate the wounded, although he was shaken by a shell explosion.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 184 Date: |
Other details |
War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front Embarked Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli, 29 August 1915. Appointed Corporal (Provisional), 20 October 1915. Disembarked Alexandria from Mudros, 7 January 1916 (general Gallipoli evcauation). Appointed Lance Sergeant, Canal Zone, 7 February 1916. Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 19 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 26 March 1916. Promoted Temporary Sergeant, 1 August 1916. Awarded Distinguished Conduct Medal. Detached to attend No 2 Officer Cadet Bn, Pembroke College, Cambridge, 5 May 1917. Appointed 2nd Lieutenant, 31 August 1917, and posted to General Infantry Reinforcements. Proceeded overseas to France, 14 September 1917; joined 21st Bn, in the field, 20 September 1917. Reported Wounded in Action, Belgium 4 October 1917; then reported Killed in Action, 4 October 1917. Buried east of Zonnebeke Lake, Reference Sheet 2S.D28.B.05; grave subsequently lost. Statement, Red Cross File No 1320506H, 5431 Pte J.M. WHYTE, 21st Bn, D Company (patient, 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford, England), 15 February 1918: 'We were in a shell hole at Broodseinde, waiting to hop over when the enemy started a bombardment when Lt.H. [sic] got a piece of shrapnel through his shoulder. I dressed the wound which was a nasty one. I asked him if he was going back[;] he said he would go over with the men, this was about 5.30 A.M. I was wounded about an hour later and heard later on that he had been killed during the day. He was the Idol of the company, a splendid fellow for his men. He was a D.C.M. and has only just got his star.' Second statement, 366 Sergeant E. DRAPER, 22nd Bn, 30 May 1918: 'He was killed outright just before we got to Broodsende ridge by a shell. We buried him the same day near where he fell. I was present and took back the burying party. The only thing I took off him was his pay-book which I have to a Sgt of the 21st Batt. We left his D.C.M. on his coat when we buried him.' Medals: Distinguished Conduct Medal, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal |
Miscellaneous details | Surname incorrectly recorded on Embarkation Roll as HERAND. |
Sources | NAA: B2455, HERAUD Thomas Frank
Red Cross File No 1320506H |