Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Charles Leo PALMER (Service Number 3597) was born on 7th July 1892 at Bourke. His only work for the NSW Tramways was as a casual conductor, before and between service with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force, and the Australian Imperial Force. 

Palmer first worked as a casual conductor on 3rd February 1914. Immediately on the outbreak of the war he enlisted in the AN&MEF – a force sent from Sydney to seize German assets and colonies in the Pacific to the north of the continent.

Although several pay increments, and a change to permanent employment, are noted until September 1916, he had enlisted in the AIF on 20th September 1915.
Palmer enlisted at Sydney, (the only possible location) to join the AN&MEF on 11th August 1914. He nominated his mother, Sarah Ann, living in Harris Street, Ultimo, as his next of kin. His service with that force was 161 days and he was discharged in Sydney on 18th January 1915. This service alone entitled him to the award of the 1914/1915 Star, as it was against the ‘Central Powers’, albeit in their remote colonies. He returned to tram conducting.
He enlisted in the AIF at the RAS Showgrounds on 20th September 1915. He was allotted to the 8th Reinforcements to the 17th Battalion. He embarked HMAT ‘Aeneas’ at Sydney on 20th December 1915 and sailed to Egypt. From there, after a brief time, he proceeded to join the British Expeditionary Force fighting on the Western Front in France, through Alexandria and Marseilles where he passed on 23rd March 1916. In August he was hospitalised with scabies and upon his return to duty in September was promoted to Acting Corporal, though before the end of the month he was back in hospital with dermatitis. It was 24 November 1916 before he re-joined the Battalion, though within two weeks the dermatitis and scabies had returned, and he was back in hospital until March 1917. In the next six weeks of duty he was promoted to Corporal, but another bout of scabies followed until he re-joined the Battalion on 6 May. From 4 June another ten days were spent in hospital and once again, on his return he was promoted, this time to Sergeant on 1st August. The next month saw another period in hospital from 6th to 12th September.
Palmer was killed in action in Belgium on 9th October 1917. Pte T F Reine (3162) stated:
‘Palmer was sent out of the line, sick, on Oct. 8th/17, when he and his Pltn. were moving up for a stunt at Broodseinde Ridge. On his way out with Pte. Nobel of the 19th Bn. a shell burst, killing them both instantaneously.’
Pte. A G Lester (5372) reported:
‘I did not know Sergt. Palmer, but I was working on a salvage party in October, 1917, up near Passchendaele, and I distinctly remember seeing a cross on a grave with the name Sergeant Palmer, 17th Battalion, but no regimental number, but the number of the grave was 401. This was just off the duckboard track called the Kit Kat track, leading from the Menin Road to Sans Souci. This was not a cemetery – there were only two crosses and the grave was amongst all the shell holes, but the grave must have been marked and registered, as otherwise it would not have been numbered and marked with the little metal plaque.’
The site could not be located after the war and Palmer has no known grave. He in remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.
A pension of 53/9 per fortnight was granted from 10th January 1918 to Palmer’s mother Sarah Ann, but she died on 27th September.

- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.