S11762
NURSE, Arthur Ronald
| Service Number: | 6555 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 14 August 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 10th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Thebarton, South Australia, 1 June 1898 |
| Home Town: | Mile End, City of West Torrens, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Thebarton Public School, Adelaide High School, School of Mines & Industries |
| Occupation: | Student |
| Died: | Barmera, South Australia , 9 July 1946, aged 48 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Barmera (Upper Murray) Garden of Memory Cemetery |
| Memorials: | Adelaide High School Great War Honour Board, Adelaide University of Adelaide WW1 Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 14 Aug 1916: | Enlisted Australian Army (Post WW2), Private | |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Oct 1916: | Involvement Private, 6555, 10th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Melbourne embarkation_ship_number: A16 public_note: '' | |
| 23 Oct 1916: | Embarked Private, 6555, 10th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Port Melbourne, Adelaide |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Robert Kearney
Raid on Celtic Wood
6555 Private Arthur Ronald Nurse a student from Mile End, South Australia was one of the few men who had only recently joined the battalion as reinforcement a few weeks before the raid. The fact that the Field Return 13 October 1917 recorded Nurse as missing 8/10/17 demonstrates that all the casualties that occurred before noon on 9 October were recorded during the noon 8 October-Noon 9 October; clearly, he was not actually wounded until 9 October.
He was treated at 3rd Field Ambulance with a gunshot wound to the right buttock and then admitted to 17th Casualty Clearing Station on 9 October. A document on his service record Medical Report of an Invalid, states his date of disability as Oct 9th 1917 and the injury as a machine gun bullet in the right buttock during advance at Ypres.[i]
One of his brothers, Charles Nurse was killed in action in early 1918 and when his mother, filled out the AWM Roll of Honour Circular for Charles, she decided to include a short sentence about Arthur.
In response to the question, ‘Was he connected with any other member of the A.I.F. who died or distinguished himself?’ Mrs Nurse proudly wrote, ‘His brother, Ronald [Arthur Ronald] aged 19 was wounded in stunt when the Canadians took Passchendaele. He was one of about 12 or 14 from about 130 men who came out alive from Bombing Raid early morning’.
The raid was definitely not to support the Canadian however after reading Charles Bean’s account in the newspaper or Commonwealth of Australia Gazette Ronald’s mother had a valid reason to believe it was.[ii]
Returned to Australia in 1918.
[i] National Archives of Australia, B 2455, Nurse Arthur Ronald / 8003082, viewed 14 May 2012.
[ii] Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 27 June, 1918, p. 1404
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