The AIF Project

Alexander AHRADSEN

Regimental number2778
Place of birthWellington, New Zealand
SchoolBoys School, Wellington, New Zealand
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationCarpet palnner
AddressNewtown, Sydney, New South Wales
Marital statusMarried
Age at embarkation35
Height5' 2.25"
Weight156 lbs
Next of kinMrs E S Ahradsen, Roslyn, Dixon Street, Newtown, Sydney, New South Wales
Previous military serviceServed for 6 years in the New Zealand Volunteers; Company disbanded.
Enlistment date26 July 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll26 July 1915
Place of enlistmentLiverpool, New South Wales
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name13th Battalion, 9th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/30/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A8 Argyllshire on 30 September 1915
Rank from Nominal RollSergeant
Unit from Nominal Roll13th Battalion
Recommendations (Medals and Awards)

Unspecified


Recommendation date: 9 December 1916

FateKilled in Action 11 April 1917
Place of death or woundingBullecourt, France
Date of death11 April 1917
Age at death33
Age at death from cemetery records33
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
68
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Peter and Sarah AHRADSEN; husband of Emily S. AHRADSEN, 10 Grosvenor Street, Woollahra, New South Wales
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Joined 13th Bn at Ismailia, 8 January 1916.

Transferred to Machine Gun Section, 2 April 1916.

Appointed Lance Corporal, 25 May 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 1 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 8 June 1916.

Appointed Temporary Corporal, 19 August 1916; Corporal, 16 November 1916; Lance Sergeant, 21 January 1917; Temporary Sergeant, 5 February 1917; Sergeant 9 March 1917.

Killed in action, France, 11 April 1917.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, AHRADSEN Alexander

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