| Regimental number | 2882 |
| Place of birth | Ballarat East, Victoria |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Woodworker |
| Marital status | Widower |
| Age at embarkation | 26 |
| Next of kin | Mother, Mrs Eliz Reece, 39 Hope Street, Geelong, Victoria |
| Previous military service | Nil |
| Enlistment date | |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 21st Battalion, 6th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/38/2 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board RMS Moldavia on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 21st Battalion |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 28 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The 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 | 94 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: Arthur and Elizabeth REECE, 39 Hope Street, Geelong, Victoria. Native of Ballarat East, Victoria |
| Other details |
War service: Egypt, Western Front Taken on strength, 21st Bn, Tel el Kebir, 7 January 1916. Admitted to 1st Australian Stationary Hospital, 9 March 1916 (influenza); discharged to duty, 17 March 1916. Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 19 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 26 March 1916. Wounded in action, 31 July 1916 (gun shot wound, back); transferred to England, 3 August 1916, and admitted to No. 2 Auxiliary Hospital, Southall (wound severe). Discharged to No. 2 Command Depot, 18 September 1916; marched in to No. 3 Command Depot, 13 October 1916. Proceeded overseas to France, 4 August 1917; rejoined Bn, 21 August 1917. Killed in action, Belgium, 9 October 1917. Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal Mother wrote to Base Records, February 1920: 'It would be a great comfort to me to know if my boy's grave is among those that are found. I have not had any such notice as yet.' |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
