GREGOR, Ernest Henry
| Service Number: | 1685 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 1 March 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 50th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Quorn, South Australia, 14 July 1897 |
| Home Town: | Quorn, Flinders Ranges, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farm hand |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Pozieres, France, 16 August 1916, aged 19 years |
| Cemetery: |
Ovillers Military Cemetery Plot XI, Row U, Grave No. 6 |
| Memorials: | Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Quorn District Roll of Honor WW1 Board, Quorn Remembrance of Those Who Served in the Great War Honour Board, Quorn Roll of Honor, Quorn School Roll of Honor WW1, Quorn War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 1 Mar 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1685, 50th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Mar 1916: | Enlisted | |
| 11 Apr 1916: | Involvement Private, 1685, 50th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
| 11 Apr 1916: | Embarked Private, 1685, 50th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Aeneas, Adelaide |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From François Berthout, Australia and NZ in WWI
Today, under the sun of the Somme which lights up the poppy fields, I would like to honor the memory of one of my boys of the Somme who came from Australia and who fell on the battlefields of France, I would like , with all my heart, with gratitude, pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 1685 Ernest Henry Gregor who fought in the 50th Australian Infantry Battalion and who was killed in action 104 years ago on August 16, 1916 at the age of 19 on the Somme front.
Ernest Henry Gregor was born on July 14, 1897 in Quorn, South Australia and was the son of Carolina Amelia Gregor. Ernest was educated at Quorn Primary School and before the outbreak of the war he lived with his mother in Quorn,Flinders Ranges, and worked as a farm hand.
Enlisted on March 11, 1916 at the age of 18 at Quorn in the 50th Australian Infantry Battalion, 2nd Reinforcement, he embarked with his unit from Adelaide, South Australia, on board HMAT A60 Aeneas on April 11, 1916 and sailed for Suez, Egypt where he arrived on May 27 and joined the British Expeditionary Force on June 5 in Alexandria, then he embarked with his battalion for France where he was disembarked at Marseilles on June 12.
a month later, on July 13, 1916, Ernest joined the Somme front and suffered from gastritis and was evacuated to the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station and the next day he was sent back to his battalion which was in the Pozieres sector.
Unfortunately, a month later, during the Battle of Pozieres,on August 16, 1916, Ernest was reported missing but his body was discovered and was confirmed as killed in action, he was only 19 years old.
Today, Ernest Henry Gregor rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Ovillers Military Cemetery, Somme.
Ernest had a brother, Private number 3172 William Charles Gregor who fought in the 9th Light Horse Regiment which survived the war and who returned to Australia on July 10, 1919.
Ernest, you who were so young, you had a life, a future ahead of you, a loving family, a home in the heart of one of the most beautiful countries in the world and yet, in the courage of your youth, you bravely answered the call of duty to serve with all your comrades, courageous men who, like you, wanted to serve their country but also humanity, for their families and for noble and just ideas that were beating in their hearts. united you walked towards france, a country bruised by war, a country you did not know but for which you and your comrades fought with courage, with extraordinary bravery and for which so many young and proud, young and courageous men gave their today and their lives, men who lived hell on earth through the darkness of war, in landscapes of mud drowned in a rain of shells tearing the sky and the earth and under an endless rain of bullets stealing lives and youth of a generation of men who wanted to live, who wanted to return home and who faced the death and suffering of the battlefields.united, you fought, and united you fell in these fields of the Somme which are today the last home of so many of your comrades, in these peaceful and beautiful cemeteries of the Somme, under a peaceful sky, in the serene silence in which we pray for you Ernest but also for all those who have not had the chance to return home and who are here with you, under the flowered graves that the sun shines so that your names live forever and that your memory does not fade, you will always be present and alive in each of us who are honored to be there for you and to transmit your story to the next generations so that the flame of remembrance never ceases to burn with strength and benevolence.and I wish, Ernest, to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, you will never be forgotten.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.
Biography contributed by Faithe Jones
THE LATE PRIVATE GREGOR.
Mrs. C. A. Gregor, widow of Mr. C. H. Gregor, of Quorn, has received word that her son, Private Ernest Henry Gregor, of the 56th Battalion, was killed in action in France on or about August 16, 1916. Pri vate Gregor, who was 19 years of age, was previously reported as missing. He was born and educated in the Quorn district, and was much loved because of his genial disposition. An elder son is serving at the front.
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