| Regimental number | 2996 |
| Place of birth | Greymouth, New Zealand |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Carpenter |
| Address | 91 Newland Street, Waverley, Sydney, New South Wales |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 28 |
| Next of kin | Mother, Mrs Minnie Firth, 22A Cottleville Terrace, Wellington, New Zealand |
| Previous military service | Served for 7 years in the 3rd Wellington Bn, Napier, New Zealand (time expired). |
| Enlistment date | |
| Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll | |
| Place of enlistment | Sydney, New South Wales |
| Rank on enlistment | Sapper |
| Unit name | 7th Field Company Engineers |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 14/26/1 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A23 Suffolk on |
| Regimental number from Nominal Roll | 2796 |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 7), 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 | 23 |
| Other details |
War service: Egypt, Western Front Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 14 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 19 March 1916. Admitted to 1st Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, 8 July 1916 (influenza); transferred to England, 20 July 1916, and admitted to Brook War Hospital, Woolwich (pyelitis, mild). Reported to No. 1 Command Depot from furlough, 12 September 1916. Proceeded overseas to France, 4 March 1917. transferred to 2nd Divisional Engineers, 14 March 1917. Admitted to 39th General Hospital, Havre, 23 May 1917; discharged to duty, 26 June 1917; total period of treatment for venereal disease: 35 days. Rejoined unit, 6 May 1917. Killed in action, Belgium, 20 September 1917. Buried in an isolated grave, south of Westhoek Village, bottom of hill, 3 miles east of Ypres, Belgium. Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
