Arthur LILLIENDAL

LILLIENDAL, Arthur

Service Number: 2933
Enlisted: 8 June 1916, Enlisted at Royal Agricultural Society Showgrounds, Moore Park, Sydney.
Last Rank: Lance Corporal
Last Unit: 53rd Infantry Battalion
Born: Mongar, Queensland, Australia, 1 August 1882
Home Town: Petersham, Marrickville, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Railway Boilermakers' Helper
Died: Died of wounds, France, 4 March 1918, aged 35 years
Cemetery: Trois Arbres Cemetery, Steenwerck, Nord Pas de Calais
II E 18
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board
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World War 1 Service

8 Jun 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2933, 53rd Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Royal Agricultural Society Showgrounds, Moore Park, Sydney.
26 Oct 1916: Involvement Private, 2933, 53rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: ''
26 Oct 1916: Embarked Private, 2933, 53rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Sydney
3 Mar 1918: Wounded AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 2933, 53rd Infantry Battalion, Battle of Messines, Shot accidentally in No Man's Land in his right shoulder by a soldier on his side. Died of his wounds the next day.
4 Mar 1918: Involvement Lance Corporal, 2933, 53rd Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2933 awm_unit: 53rd Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1918-03-04

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Biography contributed by John Oakes

Arthur LILLIENDAL (Service Number 2933) was born on 1st August 1882 at Mongar, Queensland. He first worked for the NSW Government Railways as a temporary boilermakers’ helper at Eveleigh Locomotive Works on 27th August 1915. He was released from duty to join the Expeditionary Forces .

He enlisted at the Royal Agricultural Society Showgrounds at Moore Park in Sydney on 8th June 1916. He was married, to Edith May, who lived at Albert Park in Melbourne.  Lilliendal claimed a 4-year apprenticeship in an unspecified trade in Denmark. He was allotted to the 7th Reinforcements of the 53rd Battalion.

He embarked on HMAT ‘Ascanius’ at Sydney on 25th October 1916 and that ship reached Devonport (England) on 28th December. In February he was hospitalised at Hurdcott, though he recovered quickly.,He proceeded overseas to France in April and was taken on the strength of the 53rd Battalion on 30th April. In July he was sent to the Observers School for two weeks. In September 1917 he was promoted to Lance Corporal. In February 1918 he was given leave in the United Kingdom.

Upon his return from leave, on 3rd March 1918, he was accidentally wounded. The description recorded of the injury is a shrapnel wound to his right arm and right chest, but it was more likely a bullet wound. Pte Richard Fewell reported:

‘Am afraid that Pte Lilliendal was shot by an accident in the end of February, at Messines. He went out into No Man’s Land with his gas helmet on, and no one knew he had gone. While he as coming back, he was halted several times, but as he was rather deaf he did not hear, and as he did not reply, he was shot through the right shoulder, and was carried away on a stretcher. I do not know what happened afterwards, but I heard that he had died. The man who shot him is now in England. He was quite broken down about it.’

He was admitted to the 15th Australian Field Ambulance, and then the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station, but he died the next day – 4th March 1918. He was buried at Trois Arbres, Steenwerck by the Rev R Finigan who was a Chaplain attached to the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station.

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