Herbert Austin WEST

WEST, Herbert Austin

Service Number: 5914
Enlisted: 8 May 1916, Sydney, New South Wales
Last Rank: Lance Corporal
Last Unit: 20th Infantry Battalion
Born: Botany, New South Wales, 2 September 1901
Home Town: Dulwich Hill, Marrickville, New South Wales
Schooling: Heyworth Public School and Dulwich Hill Superior Public School
Occupation: Carpenter's assistant
Died: Died of wounds, Belgium, 8 October 1917, aged 16 years
Cemetery: Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery
Memorials: Anthony Hordern & Sons Ltd. Pictorial HR, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

8 May 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 5914, Sydney, New South Wales
7 Oct 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 5914, 20th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: ''
7 Oct 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 5914, 20th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Sydney
3 May 1917: Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 5914, 20th Infantry Battalion, Bullecourt (Second), Shell wound (right arm)
30 Jun 1917: Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 20th Infantry Battalion
6 Oct 1917: Wounded AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 5914, 20th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, 2nd occasion - Shell wound (back and arm)
8 Oct 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 5914, 20th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 5914 awm_unit: 20 Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-10-08

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Biography contributed by John Edwards

Enlisted on 08 May 1916 aged 14 years 8 months - Died of wounds in Belgium aged 16 years 1 month and 6 days on 08 Oct 1917

"...5914 Lance Corporal Herbert Austin West, 20th Battalion, of Leichhardt, NSW... LCpl West enlisted in May 1916 at the age of fourteen years and eight months. He claimed to be eighteen years and one month and his application to enlist claims a document recording his parents' consent was produced. He embarked on the HMAT Ceramic on 7 October 1916 and fought for eight months in the trenches where he won his promotion to Lance Corporal, aged sixteen. He was wounded on 3 May 1917 and returned to the trenches a week later. On 8 October 1917 he died of wounds in Belgium at the 2nd Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, one month after his sixteenth birthday. His portrait is one of a number displayed on a photo montage Honour Board made for the department store Anthony Hordern and Sons Ltd, Sydney by the returned soldier and sailor employees of the company. It commemorated 46 of the company's 48 employees who died as a result of their service in the First World War. Two brothers also served: 116 Company Quarter Master Sergeant (CQMS) Harry Walter West of the 54th Battalion, who landed at Gallipoli, and 4281 Private (Pte) Clifford Sydney West of the 56th Battalion; both survived the war." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)

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