WOOD, Douglas
| Service Number: | 3969 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 9 July 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 59th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Albert Park, Victoria, January 1901 |
| Home Town: | Sandringham, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Baker |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Fromelles, France, 19 July 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 9 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3969, 7 Infantry Battalion AMF | |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Nov 1915: | Involvement Private, 3969, 7th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
| 23 Nov 1915: | Embarked Private, 3969, 7th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Melbourne | |
| 26 Mar 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 59th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Douglas Wood's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Steve Larkins
From 'He hadn't really lived': The tragedy of under-age soldiers in WWI
Douglas Wood gave his age as 18 and his occupation as baker when he signed up.
In fact, he was a schoolboy and, according to records including a birth date in a meticulous list kept by one of his teachers (no birth certificate was found), he was 14 years and five months old when he enlisted and 15 years and six months old when he was killed in action.
Douglas’s nephew, Sel Glanvill of Drysdale (near Geelong), who keeps a photo of Douglas and his ‘‘dead man’s penny’’ – a metal plate given to the next of kin of fallen soldiers – says he is appalled at the idea of a 14-year-old going to war.
But Mr Glanvill’s own father, Douglas’ brother-in-law Bill Glanvill, who survived World War I, told him a big motivator to sign up was having ‘‘a big adventure’’.
‘‘He’d never left Australia, you see.’’
Authorities ‘‘wanted bodies on ships’’ to fight and so didn’t always ask questions.
Of Douglas’ death, Mr Glanvill says now: ‘‘It was very sad. I mean, at 14, 15 he hadn’t really lived. He hadn’t been anywhere other than to war. He’d been to school and then he enlisted.’’
Biography contributed by Peter Rankin
Douglas was killed in action in the Battle of Fromelles, aged 16 years 6 months old. His family epitaph reads- LET NOT THEIR SACRIFICE BE IN VAIN.
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