The AIF Project

Frank Harold LANG

Place of birthCollege Town, South Australia
SchoolSt Peters College, South Australia
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationElectrical engineer
Addressc/o W S Lang and Co., Grenfell Street, Adelaide, South Australia
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation33
Next of kinMother, Mrs Lang, c/o W S Lang and Co., Grenfell Street, Adelaide, South Australia
Previous military serviceServed as Lieutenant in the Citizen Military Forces, Kadina.
Enlistment date7 April 1915
Rank on enlistment2nd Lieutenant
Unit name27th Battalion, D Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/44/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Adelaide, South Australia, on board HMAT A2 Geelong on 31 May 1915
Rank from Nominal RollLieutenant
Unit from Nominal Roll2nd Divisional Engineers
FateKilled in Action 26 July 1916
Place of death or woundingPozieres, Somme Sector, France
Age at death34
Age at death from cemetery records34
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
24
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: William and Eloner LANG, Adelaide
Family/military connectionsBrothers: 30711 Bombardier Clifton Herbert LANG MSM, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column, returned to Australia, 25 September 1919; 30712 Bombardier Frederick Cyril LANG, 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column, returned to Australia, 25 September 1919.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

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

Print format    


© The AIF Project 2024, UNSW Canberra. Not to be reproduced without permission.