| Regimental number | 3002 |
| Date of birth | |
| Place of birth | Locksley, Victoria |
| School | Locksley State School, Victoria |
| Religion | Methodist |
| Occupation | Labourer |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 27 |
| Height | 5' 8.75" |
| Weight | 169 lbs |
| Next of kin | Mother, Mrs C Akers, Locksley PO, Locksley, Victoria |
| Previous military service | Nil |
| Enlistment date | |
| Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll | |
| Place of enlistment | Melbourne, Victoria |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 21st Battalion, 7th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/38/2 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A18 Wiltshire on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 7th Battalion |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | Polygon Wood, Ypres, Belgium |
| Age at death | 30 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 7), 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 | 49 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: George and Catherine AKERS. |
| Family/military connections | Brother: 3679 Corporal Mark AKERS, 46th Bn, killed in action, 11 June 1917; Cousin: 2516 Lance Corporal Charles Alfred AKERS, 35th Bn, killed in action, 13 October 1917.~ |
| Other details |
War service: Western Front Taken on strength, 7th Bn, Serapeum, Egypt, 24 February 1916. Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, France, 26 March 1916; disembarked, Marseilles, 31 March 1916. Wounded in action, France, 1 July 1916; admitted to 7th Field Ambulance (shell shock), 1 July 1916; discharged to duty, 4 July 1916; rejoined 7th Bn, 6 July 1916. Wounded in action, France, 23-26 July 1916; admitted to 2nd Field Ambulance (shrapnel wound, right thigh), France, 25 July 1916; admitted to 44th Casualty Clearing Station, 25 July 1916; admitted to 1st Australian General Hospital, Rouen, 26 July 1916; transferred to Convalescent Depot, Rouen, 31 July 1916. Marched in, 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot, Etaples, 20 August 1916. Admitted to 24th General Hospital (diphtheria), Etaples, 28 August 1916; transferred to Convalescent Depot (tonsillitis), Etaples, 29 September 1916; discharged to base details, 30 October 1916; marched in, 1st Australian Divisional Base Details, Etaples, 30 October 1916. Rejoined 7th Bn, in the field, 12 November 1916. Killed in action, Belgium, 4 October 1917. Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal |
| Sources | NAA: B2455, AKERS Joseph |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
