MEARS, Percy Roland
| Service Numbers: | 2637, 2627 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 July 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 35th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Allandale, New South Wales, Australia, September 1896 |
| Home Town: | Branxton, Cessnock, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Cleaner |
| Died: | Wounds, Belgium, 12 October 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
Ypres Reservoir Cemetery Plot I, Row H, Grave No. 20, |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Lochinvar and Keinbah Districts War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 13 Jul 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2637, 35th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Oct 1916: | Involvement Private, 2627, 35th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '17' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: '' | |
| 25 Oct 1916: | Embarked Private, 2627, 35th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Sydney | |
| 17 Jun 1917: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 2637, 35th Infantry Battalion, Battle of Messines, GSW Head, slight |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Roland MEARS, (Service Number 2627) was born at Allandale about August 1896.
He was employed in the Hamilton Locomotive Sheds.
Mears enlisted at Newcastle on 7th July 1916. At that date he was 19 years and 11 months old. He gave his ‘trade or calling’ as ‘Cleaner’ and this is presumed to be in the sense of the use of that word as a stage in the career path to locomotive engineman. He gave as his next of kin his father George Mears of Allandale.
He was allotted to the 35th Battalion and embarked HMAT ‘Ascanius’ at Sydney on 25th October 1916, arriving at Devonport (England) on 28th December. He was then attached to the 9th Training Battalion until he proceeded overseas to France through Folkestone on 20th March 1917. He was taken on strength of the 35th Battalion on 9th April.
On 7th June he was wounded with gunshot to his head and hand and admitted to the 9th Australian Field Ambulance, the 32nd Stationary Hospital at Wimereaux and then the 1st Convalescent Depot. The wounds were apparently minor as by 19th June he was discharged to a rest camp and re-joined the Battalion on 7th July. After another brief hospitalisation in August, he was wounded in action on a second occasion on 12th October. He was admitted to the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance with shrapnel injuries to his legs. His left leg was amputated but it was to no avai. He died at the 3rd AFA on 13th October 1917.
Mears is buried at the Ypres Reservoir Cemetery, Ypres, Belgium.
There was confusion about the delivery of the war medals of his son Percy, as well as another of his sons, Stanley Johnson Mears (3189), who had died on active service with the 53rd Battalion.
An obituary in the Railway and Tramway Magazine read:
‘Private P.R. Mears – Mr.G.J. Mears, of Allandale, near Cessnock, has received word that his youngest son, Private P.R. Mears, died of wounds received in action on October 18. Private Mears was 21 years of age, and before enlisting was employed in the Hamilton Loco. Sheds. Mr Mears has three other sons on active service.’
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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