Douglas Leonard CHAPPLE

Douglas Leonard CHAPPLE Update Details

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SA4233

CHAPPLE, Douglas Leonard

Service Number:	3048
Enlisted:	29 June 1915, Keswick, South Australia
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	16th Infantry Battalion (WW1)
Born:	Wallaroo, South Australia, 11 October 1895
Home Town:	Marryatville, Norwood Payneham St Peters, South Australia
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Gardener
Died:	St Peters, South Australia, 23 October 1974, aged 79 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	Centennial Park Cemetery, South Australia
Memorials:	Lobethal War Memorial, Woodside District of Onkaparinga Honour Board

World War 1 Service

29 Jun 1915:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Keswick, South Australia
14 Sep 1915:	Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 3048, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '12' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Ballarat embarkation_ship_number: A70 public_note: ''
14 Sep 1915:	Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 3048, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), HMAT Ballarat, Adelaide

DOUGLAS LEONARD CHAPPLE

DOUGLAS LEONARD CHAPPLE ... A WW1 "DIGGER" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digger_(soldier)

Born in Wallaroo SA 11th October 1895.

Enthusiastic to help the war effort, DOUGLAS LEONARD CHAPPLE enlisted in ADELAIDE S.A. on the 29th June 1915 ... age 19.
He was in the AIF 16th Battalion, 10th reinforcement ... The unit embarked
1. from Adelaide South Australia, on board the HMAT A70 BALLARAT on 14th September 1915.
2. from Freemantle Western Australia, on board HMAT A32 THEMISTOCLES on 13th October 1915.
After the massacre at GALLIPOLI the survivors went to EGYPT for training and regrouping. The remainder of the 16th joined forces, to become part of the 4th division, also joining ranks with the 48th Battalion.
"In June 1916 they sailed to France where they joined the allied forces on the WESTERN FRONT."
PONZIE'RES in the SOMME VALLEY ... 'Battles of Bloody Trench Warfare!'
"The Battalion spent most of 1917 in BELGIUM, advancing the HINDENBURG LINE." ... BULLECOURT is a village in northern FRANCE ... it was one of the several villages to be heavily fortified and incorporated into the defences of the HINDENBURG LINE." ... They suffered heavy losses at BULLECOURT.
"The village is utterly destroyed, with just a few walls left standing after the devastating bombardments of spring 1917. As with all towns and villages in the zone of fighting, the work of reconstruction after the war was prodigious. Bullecourt is once again a quiet, rural village."
http://www.1914-1918.net/gaz_bullecourt.html

In April they attacked strong German positions, without promised tank support. They fought at HAMEL and AMIENS, which was said to be "the great allied offensive of 1918." ... They endured massive artillery bombardment.
"On the 11th of November 1918, the guns fell silent on the western front."
WW1 was over!
Unfortunately we don't have a personal account, concerning the battles in which this "digger" DOUGLAS LEONARD CHAPPLE took part ... but he was certainly in the thick of it and a "digger" in every sense of the word!
Doug was extremely fortunate to be alive!
He returned to Australia on the 28th March 1919 to make a new life for himself.
That's another story!

Authorial Attribution:
http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/290791/Research-skills.pdf
http://www.aif.adfa.edu.au:8080/showPerson?pid=50830
http://ryebuck.com.au/staging/servingthenation/assets/pdfs/stuhttp://www.studential.com/search?term=personal+war+histories&search=Godies.pdf
http://www.studential.com/search?term=personal+war+histories&search=Go

Virtual
War Memorial
Australia