LAIRD, Charles
| Service Number: | 2594 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 39th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Granville, Parramatta, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 4 October 1917, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient) |
World War 1 Service
| 9 Nov 1916: | Involvement Private, 2594, 39th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Benalla embarkation_ship_number: A24 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Nov 1916: | Embarked Private, 2594, 39th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Benalla, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Charles LAIRD (Service Number 2594) was born in Glasgow on 4th October 1884. He came out to NSW in 1907 from South Africa where he had been an apprentice in the Cape Government Railways for nearly five years. He married in 1910.
He joined the NSW Government Railways as a boilermaker in Newcastle in November 1912. In January 1916 he was moved to the Repair Siding, at Clyde. In September 1916 he enlisted in the AIF in Sydney, having been twice refused previously because of varicocele.
He mbarked from Sydney in November 1916 and was landed in England in January 1917. After training he was sent to France in July. On 4th August he was ‘taken on strength’ by the 39th Battalion.
The last letter received from him was dated 23rd September 1917. Up to that time he had not been in actual fighting.
On 4th October 1917 he was killed in action in Belgium. This date was the anniversary of his birth and also of his marriage. He was buried ‘about 800 yards NW of Station Zonnebeke 300 yards N of Zonnebeke – Longuemarck road’ After the war his grave could not be located, and he is remembered with honour on the Menin Gate (Ypres) Memorial.
War pensions were granted by the authorities for his widow and two small children.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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