STRATTON, Bruce
| Service Number: | 2976 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 August 1916, Camden, New South Wales |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 60th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Cawdor, New South Wales, Australia, 19 May 1897 |
| Home Town: | Mount Hunter, Wollondilly, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Mount Hunter, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Labourer Farmhand |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 28 September 1917, aged 20 years |
| Cemetery: |
St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen P. III. I. 4A. |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Camden Cenotaph, Mount Hunter War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Aug 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2976, Camden, New South Wales | |
|---|---|---|
| 3 Nov 1916: | Involvement Private, 2976, 60th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '20' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: '' | |
| 3 Nov 1916: | Embarked Private, 2976, 60th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Afric, Sydney | |
| 25 Sep 1917: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 2976, 60th Infantry Battalion, Polygon Wood, Shell wounds both legs and hands |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Julie Duncan
Originally published by Julie Duncan 28. 9. 2013
On this day, at this time, (September 28, 8AM) in 1917, in a general field hospital, in Rouen France a young 20 year old man from the small farming village of Cawdor outside Camden NSW, succumbed to his wounds. His passing would have been just another ripple in the ever growing tide of deaths during the Great War.
Young Bruce Stratton enlisted in the AIF on 17th August 1916 and like many young Aussie men of the time he too looked at it as a great adventure. He eventually arrived in France (via England) in early 1917. His service records tell you a lot - he was a farm labourer, he had very neat handwriting, he was 5'10" had dark brown hair and blue-grey eyes.
He eventually ended up serving with the 60th Battalion and he was admitted to hospital with a gunshot wound to the arm on 12th May 1917, where after a period of about a month he returned to his unit and active duty.
A little over four months later on 25th September he was wounded again. This time he received gun shot wounds to both legs and both hands. He was transferred via field ambulance to a casualty clearing station and was eventually admitted on 27th September to the general hospital in Rouen, France. Where he passed away at 8am on September 28th.
The nurse who tended him wrote to young Bruce's distraught mother Rowena. The letter told her that he was not in any pain, and he had been more concerned as to the condition and whereabouts of his Superior Officer and his mate. He was buried in a soldiers grave in St Severs cemetery just outside Rouen.
It is heartwrenching to read the letters his mother had written to the authorities pleading for details and information on her son, information that they could not or perhaps would not answer.
The diaries of the 60th battalion are at times an interesting read. The diaries place the battalion, on September 25th, near Hooge, Ypres Sector, in Belgium, where on the evening of 25th they took many casualties. Hooge is about 5km from Polygon Wood in Belgium and the 26th of September is listed as the starting date of a major offensive of the Battalion which lasted until October 3rd.
Bruce was not the only member of his family killed in WW1 he had three cousins who also died in the Great War.
I just wanted to say thank you to this great-uncle of mine and thank you to all who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for their countries. and thanks to the relatives who unearthed the photos of young Bruce.
#ANZAC #lestweforget. #WW1
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