Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Name: Erroll Arthur Rollbusch
Service Number: 1901
Place of Birth: Oakbank
Date of Birth: 1 August 1897
Place of Enlistment: Mitcham
Date of Enlistment: 16 May 1916
Age at Enlistment: 18 years 9 months
Next of Kin: Mother, Cecilia Fanny Ann Rollbusch
Occupation: Store Assistant
Religion: Methodist
Rank: Lance Corporal
Erroll left Australia on 12 August 1916 on the Ballarat, arriving at Plymouth, England on 30 September and on 21 November proceeded to France with the 35th Battalion. On 26 January 1917 he was hospitalised with mumps. During action in France on 25 May he sustained severe gunshot wounds to his back and neck necessitating being sent to Kitchener Military Hospital in England on 31 May. His mother was notified of Erroll’s condition on 12 June. He was able to rejoin his unit in France on 1 January 1918. Erroll was promoted to Lance Corporal on 12 April. Contracting jaundice meant another period of hospitalisation in England at Lewisham Military Hospital from 31 December to 25 January 1919, prior to returning to Australia on the Armagh on 5 April and being discharged on 23 June.
In a letter to Base Records Melbourne on 24 February 1918, inquiring how long Erroll had been “off duty through wounds”, his brother Private Alan Rollbusch of the 10th Battalion claimed Erroll had been “wounded once, gassed...”. There is no record of Erroll having been gassed.