Leslie LEISTER

LEISTER, Leslie

Other Name: Whiteman, Jack Walsh - Birth Name
Service Number: 4840
Enlisted: 2 October 1915, Holsworthy, New South Wales
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 55th Infantry Battalion
Born: Parkes, New South Wales, Australia, 13 August 1894
Home Town: Lambton, Newcastle, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Postal Assistant
Died: Killed in Action, Fromelles, France, 20 July 1916, aged 21 years
Cemetery: Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery
Plot I. Row E. Grave 5. Inscription: AT REST
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Parkes & District Cenotaph, Parkes District Roll of Honor, Parkes Methodist Church Roll of Honor, Parkes Methodist Church Roll of Honour, Parkes RSL Roll of Honour, Parkes Remembrance Walk, Sydney NSW Post Master General's Department Honour Roll
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World War 1 Service

2 Oct 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4840, Depot Battalion , Holsworthy, New South Wales
8 Mar 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4840, 3rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '7' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Star of England embarkation_ship_number: A15 public_note: ''
8 Mar 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4840, 3rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Star of England, Sydney
21 Apr 1916: Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 55th Infantry Battalion, T.O.S. from 3rd Infantry Battalion
19 Jun 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4840, 55th Infantry Battalion, Embarked Alexandria for B.E.F per H.M.T. "Caledonian"
29 Jun 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4840, 55th Infantry Battalion, Disembarked Marseilles, France
19 Jul 1916: Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 4840, 55th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix), Wounded In Action -- G.S.W. Hip
19 Jul 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4840, 55th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix)
20 Jul 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4840, 55th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix), --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 4840 awm_unit: 55th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1916-07-20
20 Jul 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4840, 55th Infantry Battalion, Fromelles (Fleurbaix), Killed In Action

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Biography contributed by Daryl Jones

PRIVATE LESLIE LEISTER.

Mr and Mrs. R. Leister, of Parkes, have received information from the Information Bureau of the Red Cross Society that the name of their son,  Private Leslie Leister, appeared in the German list of dead dated November 4, 1916. Private Leister, who was reported missing on July 19 last, was a native of Parkes. He was 22 years of age, and enlisted at Newcastle in October, 1915.

Last week Mr. R. Leister, of Bogan street, received the following letter from the Information Bureau of the Red Cross Society:—"We regret very much to  say that we have just received from our agents in London the following certificate:—Leslie Leister. The above name appeared in the German list of dead, dated 4th November 1916, and we are very much afraid that this means that this soldier has been killed. Our agents instructed us that when we  forwarded this information to relatives care should be taken to express that these German death lists are really made up from the discs gathered by the Germans from men who had been killed in the trenches. Our agents understand that it is only when a date or place is mentioned in the certificate that  the men lived to be prisoners. Our agents believe that in most cases the German bury the bodies alter obtaining the discs. If this news should prove true we would ask you to accept our sincere sympathy."
The information of Corporal Leister's death being so meagre Mr. and Mrs. Leister still hope that he may be alive and amongst the prisoners taken by the Germans. We sincerely trust it is so. Corporal Leister was a well known and most popular Parkes boy and was just 22 years of age. He was on the staff  of the local Post Office for 4 1/2 years, and some five years ago was transferred, to Randwick, and subsequently appointed postal assistant at Lambton, near Newcastle. He enlisted at Newcastle in October, 1915, and was reported missing on the 19th July last.

Son of Sarah Jane Whiteman; Nephew (adopted) of Robert Duncan and Eliza Leister, of Parkes, New South Wales.

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