COHEN, Basil Walter
| Service Number: | Officer |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Unit: | Unspecified British Units |
| Born: | Sandridge, Victoria, Australia, 22 June 1885 |
| Home Town: | Bendigo, Greater Bendigo, Victoria |
| Schooling: | University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Medical Practitioner |
| Died: | Natural Causes, Brighton, Victoria, Australia, 8 July 1972, aged 87 years |
| Cemetery: |
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne Banksia, Wall D, Niche 65 |
| Memorials: | Bendigo Great War Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| Date unknown: | Involvement Officer, Unspecified British Units |
|---|
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Son of Charles and Harriet COHEN
Husband of Phyllis Ramsay nee PIGGIN
Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery 1910 at University of Melbourne
Basil Walter Cohen, MB, was appointed to the Royal Army Medical Corps in ‘the Rank of Lieutenant in Our Land Forces’ from ‘the sixth day of April 1915’. His commission was signed on 25 May 1915, and he would have received the document when he arrived in England. During World War I, medical practitioners were immediately commissioned as officers— lieutenants or captains—and surgeons were appointed to the rank of major.
Cohen had graduated from the University of Melbourne in 1910 and was practising in Mansfield when he volunteered for the Australian Army Medical Corps. He disembarked in April 1915. Like many other Australian doctors, he received some training in England before being sent to the Western Front in July 1915. Cohen’s papers on the evacuation of the wounded were given to the Australian Medical Association Archive. As the war progressed, preparations for attacks and the organisation of treatment of the wounded improved.
Captain Cohen (he was promoted in April 1916) also kept the trench maps from this period, which show the British and German trenches in different colours: those south-west of St Eloi, Ypres and Hazebrouck dating from April 1915 and others from 1918. These maps were used in conjunction with the instructions, to help get the wounded to care and safety. The personal papers of Captain Cohen give us great insight into the inspiring and dedicated work performed day after day by doctors in the trenches.
After the war Basil was the Resident Medical Officer at the Repatration Hospital, Caulfield, retiring 21 June 1950.