The AIF Project

Leslie John PASCOE

Regimental number5089
Place of birthBathurst, New South Wales
SchoolPublic School, New South Wales
ReligionMethodist
OccupationLabourer
Address169 Keppel Street, Bathurst, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation26
Height5' 6"
Weight126 lbs
Next of kinMother, Mrs C Pascoe, c/o Mrs D McPherson, Maroubra, Cowper Street, Randwick, Sydney, New South Wales
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date3 November 1915
Place of enlistmentLithgow, New South Wales
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name18th Battalion, 13th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/35/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A55 Kyarra on 5 June 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll33rd Battalion
FateKilled in Action 8 June 1917
Age at death27
Age at death from cemetery records27
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 23), 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
122
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: John and Clara PASCOE, Mintaro Avenue, South Strathfield, New South Wales
Other details

War service: Western Front

Embarked Sydney, 3 June 1916; disembarked Plymouth, England, 3 August 1916.

Taken on strength, 33rd Bn, 30 September 1916.

Proceeded overseas to France, 21 November 1916.

Killed in action, 8 June 1917.

Statement, Red Cross File No 2100407, 2379 Pte T. RICHARDSON, 33rd Bn (patient, No 1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Harefield, England), 2 October 1917: 'At Ploegsteert. Killed by shell in the trenches next bay to me. I dug him out next morning[,] knew him by disc and paybook but I don't know where buried.'

Second statement, 376 Pte E.A. BROOKS, B Company, 33rd Bn (patient, No 2 Canadian Stationary Hospital, Boulogne), 15 October 1917: 'I was told by Sgt Crowley of B Coy that he was with Pasco and some others when they went to relieve some of our men at an outpost. On their way Sgt Crowley said that a shell fell amongst them and after the explosion there was nothing to be seen of Pascoe. This occurred on the 8th June at Messines.'

Third statement, [389] 2nd Lt C.S. CROWLEY, 33rd Bn, 23 November 1917: 'He was killed in front of a place called Ploegsteert Wood, about 700 yards towards the enemy line, from the head on one of our communication trenches, called St. Yves Avenue. Pte. Pascoe was killed on night of 9th.-10 June 1917, during Messines Battle, by a shell which landed almost at his feet, which also killed three more of his comrades at the same time. I myself was partially buried at the same time, by the ame shell. The nature of Pte. Pascoe's wound was that the top of his head was blown clean off, death being instantaneous.'

Fourth statement, 5060 Pte H.H. KILPATRICK, 33rd Bn (patient, 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford, England), 28 November 1917: 'Was in the same bay with him when he was killed outright along with 3 others[.] No time for burial then but probable later on.'

Fifth statement, 2210 Pte J.R. KELLY, B Company, 33rd Bn, 29 November 1917: 'I saw him lying dead about ½ an hour after he was killed in the trench at Messines, about 5 p.m. on June 8th. A shell had blown his legs away, and his arm. He was quite recognisable; his face was not damaged. I should think he must have died instantly. I did not see him buried. We held this trench.'

Sixth statement, 4985 Pte C.G. BLUME, B Company, 33rd Bn, 12 January 1918: 'I saw him killed, he was blown to pieces by a shell, his remains were picked up and placed on the parapet, I could not say what happened after. This happened during the hop over at Messines.'

Seventh statement, 1389 Pte T.J. GEARY, 33rd Bn, 2 March 1918: 'I was near him when he was badly blown up at Messines and doubt if he could be buried.'

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, PASCOE Leslie John
Red Cross File No 2100407

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