Charles Gordon CAMPBELL

Regimental number3130
Place of birthGlenpark, Ballarat, Victoria
SchoolBallarat Continuation School, Victoria
Other trainingTeacher
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationSchool teacher
AddressBallarat, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation24
Height5' 9.25"
Weight130 lbs
Next of kinFather, Charles Campbell, 4 Exeter Street, Ballarat, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date29 September 1916
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name57th Battalion, 8th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/74/4
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A7 Medic on 16 December 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll57th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 11 March 1918
Place of death or woundingWarneton, Messines, Belgium
Age at death25
Age at death from cemetery records25
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
163
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Son of Mary CAMPBELL, 106 Wendouree Parade, Ballarat, Victoria, and the late Charles Henry CAMPBELL
Family/military connectionsCousin: Sgt Maynes McCombe; several cousins in British Expeditionary Forces, killed in action.
Other details

War service: Western Front

Embarked Melbourne, 16 December 1916; disembarked Plymouth, England, 18 February 1917, and admitted to Military Hospital, Devonport, the same day; marched into No 1 Command Depot, Perham Downs, 16 April 1917.

Classified 'B1B', 20 April 1917.

Classified 'B2A', 27 April 1917.

Classified 'A', 18 June 1917.

Proceeded overseas to France from Overseas Training Bde, 2 November 1917; marched into 5th Australian Divisional Base Depot, Le Havre, 3 November 1917.

Proceeded to unit, 7 November 1917; taken on strength of 57th Bn, in the field, 14 November 1917.

Killed in action, 11 March 1918.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, CAMPBELL Charles Gordon