Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Frank Norman

Frank Norman; born in 1889, in Finland in the town of Kristinestad, he belonged to the Church of England and moved to Broken Hill, New South Wales and worked as a sailor (1) (NAA, 2005). Frank had grey eyes, a sallow complexion, and brown hair. Frank stood 5 feet and 6 inches tall, weighed 154 lbs (70 kg), and had a chest measurement of 37 inches. His left eye had 6/9 vision and the same in the right. There were 4 vaccines in his right arm and 2 in the left. He had distinctive marks that were 3 tattoos on his right arm. One allocated on his forearm, another on the front of the forearm, and the last on the back of his wrist (Norman also had a disability, which was a fracture above his right ankle). His next of kin was his sister, Miss Meri Norman. She was located in Kristinestad, Finland (2) (AWM, 2015).

Norman was 27 years old when he enlisted to join World War I on the 6th July 1916, in New South Wales, Broken Hill – two years after it had already broken out (4) (Trove, 2011). He was appointed to 43rd Battalion, 3rd Reinforcement, Mitcham on the 10th August 1916 and was enlisted as a Private. Just over a month later, he embarked on, the 28th August 1916, from Adelaide, South Australia, on board HMAT A68 Anchises on 28 August 1916. His rank from the nominal roll was private and his unit from the nominal was 3rd Divisional Salvage Company (6) (https://www.archives.sa.gov.au/content/our-catalogue, 2011).

During his travels fighting for Australia, Frank did not record any diaries or record anything about his journey, so we do not know how he spent his time, where he travelled to, if he made friends, or anything about his time fighting. Norman was single when he enlisted for the war, but we do not know if he ever got married. During his time on the Western Front, Frank Norman got injured on field during duty. His injury was a fracture of his tibia and fibula. This injury occurred 8 months after Norman joined the war, on the 30th April 1917 (1) (https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/BasicSearch.aspx, 2013). He was admitted to Suffolk Hospital, England and was recommended to change to Australia. The probable minimum duration for his injury to heal was 6 months and his capacity for earning a full livelihood in the general labour market lessened at present became ¼ (5) (https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/search, 2006).

Norman’s certificates say that he returned to Australia on the 18th October 1917 but also that he disembarked from the war on the 11th December 1917. His reason for discharge was that he was medically unfit (not due to misconduct). By the time he returned, Norman had served 1 year and 175 days in total and 1 year and 106 days fighting abroad (3) (https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/BasicSearch.aspx, 2013).

Norman showed great amounts of ANZAC Spirit throughout his time in the war. The qualities of showing ANZAC Spirit were being endurance, courage, ingenuity, good humour, and mateship. He was prepared to sacrifice his life to fight for his country’s freedom. He did not show any misconduct and only disembarked from the war because he was unable to fight, due to being medically unfit. Norman and all the other soldiers who fought for our country’s freedom and dedicated their lives to this country are the reason we are privileged enough to be living in the world we have today.