Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Henry Alfred Strand born 2 May 1891 at St George in Queensland, the 3rd living son of Frederick & Emma Strand.  As a young lad his parents moved around looking for work from St George in Queensland, to Apple Tree Creek near Childers, in Mitchell and Surat and then to Roma in Queensland.  By the time he was 17 they had moved to Bundaberg at the Bourbong Estate.  Henry Alfred was known affectionately as 'Alf'.  He was a labourer at Taron, Murrays Creek near Lowmead by the time he married Martha Caroline Byrnes from Pitt Street, Bundaberg.  Their marriage was on 29 May 1912 in Maryborough, Queensland.  A year later he was resident at Gravel Reserve in Bundaberg and were expecting their first child.  However, 12 January in 1914 his young wife Martha died in childbirth along with their newborn baby son, a grief for Alf beyond words.  He moved to his sister's place in Surat where he stayed for a couple of years with her family as he dealt with his sorrow.  Perhaps this loss was what drove him to enlist 17 Jan 1916 in Warwick, this is just one day prior to his younger brother Thomas William Strand enlisting also.  Alf is aged 24, 5ft 10in in height, 37 chest, fair complexion, blue eyes, brown hair and squarish chin.  The photo of the brothers on this site was taken at Enoggera Army Barracks in Brisbane before their embarkments in Oct 1916.  Alf emarked on the Marathon 27 Oct 1916 and arrived in France 14 June 1917 as a Trooper.  He was embroiled in the worst and bloody battles of WWI being the Battle of Polygon Wood at Ypres, Belgium on 26 Sep 1917.  Just 1 year and 3 months and 12 days after enlisting Alf was wounded in action with shell shots to the head and taken to the Medical Station on Anzac Ridge on that fateful day where he died.  His younger brother Thomas William Strand was in the same battle on the same day, being a machine gunner and after his gun team were all shot and the gun sinking in the mud mire, he with his bare hands only began to dig the machine gun from out of the mud and ready it for action when he continued to barrage the enemy with fire. For this, Thomas William Strand was awarded a Military Medal for his bravery.  A letter from Tom just 25 days before the battle had mentioned he was on leave and about to take over on the frontline from his brother Alf.  From that account, it seems that Alf had stayed on in the frontline where they fought together.  Alf's body was never recovered for a decent burial and his name is on the Memoriam Wall of the Menin Gate in Ieper, Belgium and also on the Roll of Honour Wall at Canberra Australian War Memorial under the 52nd Battalion.  His brother Tom returned to Australia after the War, married, and two of his sons Ken and Ron have an uncanny resemblence to the 'brothers' of the War, so sad Alf never got to meet his nephews.  A Memoriam was held every year by his family to honour him, a poem in the newspaper of Bundaberg just for Alf states"Somewhere in France he is sleeping, His life so freely he gave; He fought, and helped for victory, And is now in a hero's grave"  Lest We Forget