POWER, Leslie
| Service Number: | 2833 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 5th Field Ambulance |
| Born: | Girilambone, New South Wales, Australia., 23 January 1894 |
| Home Town: | Auburn, Auburn, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Locomotive Cleaner |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 9 August 1918, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 31 May 1915: | Involvement Private, 2833, 5th Field Ambulance, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '22' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ajana embarkation_ship_number: A31 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 31 May 1915: | Embarked Private, 2833, 5th Field Ambulance, HMAT Ajana, Sydney | |
| 9 Aug 1918: | Involvement Private, 2833, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2833 awm_unit: 12th Australian Field Ambulance awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1918-08-09 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Leslie POWER (Service Number 2833) was born on 23rd January 1894 at Girilambone. His only work for the NSW Government rRailways was as a locomotive cleaner, the first step in the career path to driver, at Bathurst from 28th April 1913 and then Eveleigh from July and Clyde from January 1915. He was released from duty to join the Expeditionary Forces on 27th February 1915, having in fact enlisted a Liverpool a week earlier. As he was not married, he nominated his mother, living in Clyde, as his next of kin.
He was allotted to the 5th Field Ambulance. Power embarked HMAT ‘Ajana’ at Sydney on 31st May 1915. He joined the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force at Gallipoli on 16th August. He had only spent 12 days there when he received a bullet wound in his arm and had to be evacuated to No. 1 General Hospital at Heliopolis, Egypt and from there moved to the 3rd Western General Hospital at Cardiff, Wales. After his recovery he reported to the Australian Base at Abbey Wood. It was during his time there that he married Florence Lucy Catlin, a munitions worker, on 23rd April 1916.
He proceeded to France and was transferred to the 2nd Australian General Hospital, France, on 2nd June 1916. Here, in the same month, he seems to have been admitted to his own hospital with tonsillitis. Once he had recovered, he remained with No. 2 Australian General Hospital at Wimereux until he had leave in London and then seems to have worked in several hospitals in England.
In 1918 he returned to France and was taken on the strength of the 12th Field Ambulance on 23rd January.
He was killed in action on 9th August 1918. Pte. D M Finlay stated:
‘On August 8/18 he was stretcher bearing with 3 other men on the Hamel sector when he was killed outright by a bullet in the throat. Pte. Avery of the 12th Field Ambulance A.I.F. (who is now in France) was one of the men with him.’
He was buried at the Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, Picardie, France, by the Rev G H Hurst.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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