The AIF Project

Milton BRADBURY

Regimental number3483
Place of birthArgyle, New South Wales
SchoolCurrawala Public School, New South Wales
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationGrazier
AddressCurraweela Post Office, via Taralga, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation25
Height6' 0"
Weight161 lbs
Next of kinFather, W H Bradbury, Curraweela PO via Taralga, New South Wales
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date24 August 1915
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name20th Battalion, 8th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/37/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A60 Aeneas on 20 December 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll20th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 28 July 1916
Place of death or woundingPozieres, Somme Sector, France
Date of death28 July 1916
Age at death26
Age at death from cemetery records26
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.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
90
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: William and Johanna BRADBURY, Curraweela, New South Wales. Born at Taralga, New South Wales
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Admitted to Government Hospital, Suez, 24 January 1916 (mumps); discharged to duty, 31 January 1916.

Admitted to No 1 Auxiliary Hospital, Heliopolis, 15 February 1916 (influenza and rheumatism); discharged to duty, 24 February 1916.

Taken on strength, 20th Bn, Moascar, 15 March 1916.

Embarked Alexandria Tto join the British Expeditionary Force, 18 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 25 March 1916.

Admitted to 7th Australian Field Ambulance, 1 May 1916 (scabies), and transferred to British Isolation Hospital, Bailleul; to 50th Northumbrian Casualty Clearing Station, 2 May 1916; discharged to duty, 6 May 1916.

Killed in action, 28 July 1916.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
Miscellaneous detailsPlace of birth incorrectly entered on NAA RecordSearch as Argyle, Western Australia.
SourcesNAA: B2455, BRADBURY Milton

Print format    


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