The AIF Project

Frank Creese McCOUBRIE

Regimental number2550
Place of birthFootscray, Victoria
SchoolHyde Street State School, Footscray, Victoria
ReligionBaptist
OccupationElectrician
Address5 Droop Street, Footscray, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation19
Next of kinMother, Mrs Maud McCoubrie, 5 Droop Street, Footscray, Victoria
Previous military serviceNaval Brigade Williamstown rejected for permanent injury to eye.
Enlistment date13 April 1916
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll1 May 1916
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name58th Battalion, 5th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/75/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A9 Shropshire on 25 September 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll58th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularEnlisted April 1916 was in Officers's School Geelong sailed 25/9/16 gave up his stripes gained at school to sail with reinforcements entered Hurdcott School England went to France as signaller to 58th Battalion. (Maud mcCoubrie Mother)
FateKilled in Action 12 May 1917
Place of death or woundingBullecourt, France
Age at death21.9
Age at death from cemetery records21
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.

Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Alfred and Alice MCCOUBRIE, 5 Droop Street, Footscray, Victoria
Other details

War service: Western Front

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

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