| Regimental number | 2391 |
| Place of birth | Forbes, New South Wales |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Occupation | Labourer |
| Address | Forbes, New South Wales |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 18 |
| Height | 5' 7" |
| Weight | 132 lbs |
| Next of kin | Sister, Miss Alice Campbell, Stokes Hotel, Orange, New South Wales |
| Previous military service | Member of the Rifle Club for 6 months. |
| Enlistment date | |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 45th Battalion, 5th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/62/3 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A68 Anchises on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 45th Battalion |
| Other details from Roll of Honour Circular | Enlisted 8 April 1916. Taken on strength, 45th Bn, 1 January 1917. Accidentally wounded, 25 May 1917. (Mrs E S Farmer, grandmother) |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | Polygon Wood, Ypres, Belgium |
| Age at death | 19 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 27), 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 | 139 |
| Other details |
War service: Western Front Embarked from Sydney, 24 August 1916; disembarked Devonport, England, 11 October 1916. Proceeded overseas to France, 21 December 1916; taken on strength, 45th Bn, 1 January 1917. Admitted to hospital from 1st Anzac School of Instruction. 24 May 1917. Court of Enquiry, 25 May 1917, stated that the soldier was on duty at the time of the accident (Stokes Trench Mortar accident at 1st Anzac Corps School). Soldier in no way to blame & no disciplinary action to be taken. Admitted to 9th Casualty Clearing Station, 25 May 1917 (shell wound, right hand, left leg, throat); transferred to 10th General Hospital, Rouen, 29 May 1917; to England, 4 June 1917, and admitted to 3rd Southern General Hospital, Oxford. Granted furlough, 2 July 1917, to report to No. 1 Command Depot, Perham Downs, 16 July 1917. Proceeded overseas to France, 6 August 1917; rejoined Bn, 25 August 1917. Killed in action, Belgium, 30 September 1917. Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
