CURTIS, Frank
| Service Number: | 714 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 January 1917 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 47th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Beenleigh, Queensland, Australia, 21 February 1891 |
| Home Town: | Tamborine, Scenic Rim, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Maudsland State School, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation: | Fruit grower |
| Died: | Killed in action, Dernancourt, France, 5 April 1918, aged 27 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Beaudesert War Memorial, Canungra War Memorial, Upper Coomera Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 13 Jan 1917: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 714, 12th Machine Gun Company | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Jun 1917: | Involvement Private, 714, 12th Machine Gun Company, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '21' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Suevic embarkation_ship_number: A29 public_note: '' | |
| 21 Jun 1917: | Embarked Private, 714, 12th Machine Gun Company, HMAT Suevic, Melbourne | |
| 5 Apr 1918: | Involvement Private, 714, 47th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 714 awm_unit: 47th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1918-04-05 |
Logan Village Museum
Frank's Brother Ernest also served #19379 in the Special Draft 1stto 5th Signal Service Egypt
Submitted 23 April 2018 by Coralyn Cowin
Logan Village Museum
Frank was born 21st February 1891 and died 5th April 1918 at Dermacourt France.
His parents were Edmund Ford and Mary Jane nee Pollock.
Logan Village Museum has Frank listed on their WW1 Honour Roll as his family were Pioneers of Tambourine.
Frank was to marry Bessie Clowes after he returned but alas this never happened.
Submitted 28 February 2018 by Coralyn Cowin
Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Frank Curtis was the son of Edmund Ford and Mary Jane Curtis of Tamborine, Queensland.
Enlisting in early 1917, he joined the 47th Battalion on the Western Front during January 1918. He was involved with the 47th Battalion during the Battle of Dernancourt during late March, early April 1918.
The main German attack at Dernancourt crashed into the 47th Battalion positions on the railway embankment. The fighting was very fierce, and developed into shooting, stabbing, kicking hand-to-hand fighting as the Australians tried to hold their besieged line.
The fighting swept over and around isolated pockets of the 47th Battalion, and many were killed or captured. Curtis was reported missing on 5 April 1918.
In Curtis’s Red Cross wounded and missing file there is a report by Private J.A. O’Rourke that states, “when the seven survivors [from a 47th Battalion position] in his part of the support trench were surrounded after a very hard fight and surrendered, they were asked by a German officer who they were. On Private F Curtis … saying ‘’ Australians”, the officer drew his pistol and shot Curtis through the stomach. Curtis dropped, and the officer told two others of the group to carry him to the rear, where he died.” Charles Bean included this incident in his Official History.
In a communication with the AIF during 1921, Mary Curtis, Frank’s mother stated she had heard from several 47th members that there was a Frank Curtis of their battalion shot by a German officer at Dernancourt on 5 April 1918. She also said “I have no idea whether he was buried or not.”
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