Raymond Holstein PFLAUM

PFLAUM, Raymond Holstein

Service Number: 161
Enlisted: 21 July 1915
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 32nd Infantry Battalion
Born: Blumberg (Birdwood), South Australia, Australia, 14 October 1897
Home Town: Birdwood (formerly Blumberg), Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Schooling: Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Occupation: Commercial Shop Assistant
Died: Killed In Action, France, 19 July 1916, aged 18 years
Cemetery: Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery
Plot I, Row B, Grave No 11
Memorials: Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, Birdwood Blumberg Roll of Honor, Birdwood Pictorial Honour Roll WW1, Birdwood WW1 & WW2 Soldier's Memorial, Gumeracha Our Fallen Heroes WW1 Honour Board, Kent Town Prince Alfred College 'Nobly Striving, Nobly Fell' Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

21 Jul 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 161, Depot Battalion
18 Nov 1915: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 161, 32nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Geelong, Adelaide
19 Jul 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 161, 32nd Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix)

Brothers in arms...

Theodor wrote of finding his injured brother Raymond in a dugout, as he was moving into position
during the Battle of Fromelles on 19/7/1916. He wrote:-

"While the men were getting their wind, my attention was drawn to a wounded man alongside of me just along a dugout. It was Ray … He was quite conscious and by his appearance didn’t seem to be hit too badly …

I managed to get him a flask of whisky … and a mouthful of that seemed to make his spirits go up …I asked a 32nd fellow … to do his best for Ray while he could. I then made my
way down to find a position for my gun.."

Raymond was not accounted for again until his remains were unearthed at Pheasant Wood, 90 years after his death. Theordor was to fall at Polygon Wood the following year. Only brother Elliot, of the three, survived the war.

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Biography contributed by Steve Larkins

"While the men were getting their wind, my attention was drawn to a wounded man alongside of me just along a dugout. It was Ray … He was quite conscious and by his appearance didn’t seem to be hit too badly … I managed to get him a flask of whisky … and a mouthful of that seemed to make his spirits go up … I asked a 32nd fellow … to do his best for Ray while he could. I then made my way down to find a position for my gun.."

    Corporal Theodor Pflaum, 8th Machine Gun Company, 19 July 1916


Private Raymond Pflaum of the 32nd Battalion was killed at Fromelles. His brother, Theodor, found him wounded on the battlefield but could not stop long enough to help him. Raymond died of his wounds later that day. His body was not recovered until 2010, when his remains were found during the excavation of a mass grave at Pheasant Wood.

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