Fraser Eugene BARNES

Regimental number2556
Date of birth14 June 1893
Place of birthBooie, Queensland
SchoolState School, Queensland
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationCarpenter
AddressRosscommon Villa, Montague Road, South Brisbane, Queensland
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation23
Next of kinFather, John Edward Barnes, Rosscommon Villa, Montague Road, South Brisbane, Queensland
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date13 August 1915
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name15th Battalion, 8th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/32/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT A55 Kyarra on 16 August 1915
Rank from Nominal Roll2nd Lieutenant
Unit from Nominal Roll15th Battalion
Recommendations (Medals and Awards)

Military Medal


Recommendation date: 5 September 1916

Military Cross


Died of wounds 11 April 1917.
Recommendation date: 28 September 1916

Mention in Despatches


Awarded, and promulgated, 'London Gazette', second Supplement, No. 29890 (2 January 1917); 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 103 (29 June 1917).

FateKilled in Action 11 April 1917
Place of death or woundingBullecourt, France
Date of death11 April 1917
Age at death24
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
74
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Commemorated in Toowong Cemetery, Brisbane, Queensland.
Medals

Military Medal

'This N.C.O. displayed great courage and endurance during the operations near FERME DU MOUQUET on 26th/29th August, 1916, under heavy strain of continuous enemy shelling he carried out his duties of Acting Company Sergeant Major with a marked degree of capability.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 62
Date: 19 April 1917

Other detailsMedals: Military Medal, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal