CRAIG, Harold Gordon
| Service Number: | 416 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 August 1914, Richmond, Vic. |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 6th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, 1886 |
| Home Town: | Hawthorn, Boroondara, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Scotch College, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Died of wounds, At sea (HMHS Dunluce Castle), 8 August 1915 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Hampton RSL Gallipoli Memorial Gardens, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing, Melbourne Cricket Club Roll of Honour 1914 - 1918 |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 416, 6th Infantry Battalion, Richmond, Vic. | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 416, 6th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: '' | |
| 19 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 416, 6th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne | |
| 25 Apr 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 416, 6th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, GSW to arm. Evacuated to Egypt. Rejoined unit 17 June 1915. | |
| 6 Aug 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 416, 6th Infantry Battalion, The August Offensive - Lone Pine, Suvla Bay, Sari Bair, The Nek and Hill 60 - Gallipoli, GSW to head (fractured jaw). Evacuated on HS Dunluce Castle but later died at sea of wounds on 8 August 1915. |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Rod Hutchings
Bullets buzz like bees in the scrub. Harold Gordon Craig ducks behind a bush as leaves shred above him.
Harold Gordon Craig was 31 years old, a Private with the 6th Infantry Battalion. Before he enlisted at Richmond in August 1914, he was a clerk for a produce merchant in Queen Street, Melbourne. He grew up in Hawthorn, the youngest child of a grain merchant, and spent his winters on the muddy turf of the Glenferrie Sports Ground. Between 1904 and 1906, he played 18 games for the Hawthorn Football Club, finding the goals just once.
Gordon was among the first to join the AIF. He trained in the desert near Cairo and waited on the island of Lemnos for the order to move. On 25 April 1915, he watched the cliffs of Gallipoli from a porthole before climbing down a rope ladder into a rowing boat. He was part of the second wave. As the boat reached the shore, shrapnel burst overhead and the naval officer in charge laughed, telling the men the Turks "couldn't hit a haystack."
Gordon made it 100 yards inland before the order came to enter the firing line. He threw away his pack and got "on with the game." In the rough scrub, he found himself lying next to a Major shot in both legs. The officer asked Gordon what kind of shot he was. "Not bad," Gordon replied. He adjusted his range from 500 yards to 450 and began to find his targets.
A bullet grazed his wrist that morning, but five minutes later, another went clean through his arm. He was evacuated to the Heliopolis Hospital in Cairo. His sister, Essie, was a nurse there with the Australian Army Nursing Service. She watched over him as his arm healed. By 17 June, he was back with his battalion on the peninsula.
In the early hours of 7 August 1915, Gordon moved through a tunnel from Steele’s Post toward the German Officer’s Trench. During the attack, a bullet struck him in the face. The impact fractured his jaw in three places. He was carried to the hospital ship Dunluce Castle, but the wounds were too severe.
Harold Gordon Craig died on 8 August 1915. He was buried at sea. His name is carved into the Lone Pine Memorial, far from the grain warehouses of Queen Street and the cheering crowds at Glenferrie.
Lest we forget
Rod Hutchings
Director, Virtual War Memorial Australia
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