The AIF Project

Harry CHARLTON

Regimental number1526
Place of birthAdamstown, New South Wales
SchoolSuperior Public School, West Wallsend, New South Wales
ReligionRoman Catholic
OccupationLabourer
AddressCarrington Street, West Wallsend, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation18
Next of kinMother, Mrs Mary Charlton, Carrington Street, West Wallsend, New South Wales
Previous military serviceServed for 3 years in the Citizen Military Forces.
Enlistment date30 November 1914
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name2nd Battalion, 3rd Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/19/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A49 Seang Choon on 11 February 1915
Regimental number from Nominal Roll1526A
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll9th Battalion
Recommendations (Medals and Awards)

Unspecified


Valuable services in carrying out several daring successful patrols.(Near Le Barque 24-26 February 1917).
Recommendation date: 10 March 1917

FateKilled in Action 8 October 1917
Place of death or woundingBroodseinde Ridge, Passchendaele, Belgium
Age at death21.4
Age at death from cemetery records21
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 17), 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
55
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Thom and Mary Ann CHARLTON, Carrington Street, West Wallsend, New South Wales
Family/military connectionsBrother: 930 Pte Thomas Edward CHARLTON, 9th Bn, returned to Australia, 8 October 1918.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Transferred to 9th Bn, Gallipoli, 9 May 1915. Admitted to 1st Field Ambulance, 27 August 1915 (gastritis); transferred to Mudros. Transferred to 25th Casualty Clearing Station, Imbros, 28 August 1915; transferred to Australian & New Zealand Base, Mudros, 17 September 1915; discharged to Gallipoli, 26 September 1915; rejoined Bn, 28 September 1915. Disembarked Alexandria, 4 January 1916 (general Gallipoli evacuation).

Admitted to 1st Australian Stationary Hospital, Ismalia, 15 February 1916; transferred to No. 1 Australian Dermatological Hospital, Cairo, 16 February 1916; discharged to Base, 8 March 1916, following treatment for venereal disease; rejoined unit, 23 March 1916.

Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 27 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 3 April 1916.

Wounded in action, 5 December 1916 (gun shot wound, buttock); admitted to 26th General Hospital, Etaples, 6 December 1916; discharged from Convalescent Depot to No. 1 Australian Division Base Depot, 5 January 1917; rejoined unit, 17 January 1917.

Wounded in action, 25 February 1917 )gun shot wound, right leg); transferred to England, 28 February 1917, and admitted to 3rd Australian General Hospital, Transferred to Seaford Convalescent Hospital, 10 March 1917. Marched into No. 1 Command Depot from furlough, 11 May 1917. Found guilty of being absent without leave from 3.30 pm, 3 May 1917, to 2 pm, 10 May 1917: awarded 8 days' Field Punishment No. 2 and forfeiture of 16 days' pay. Proceeded overseas to France, 22 May 1917; rejoined Bn, 15 June 1917.

Killed in action, Belgium, 8 October 1917.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

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