DAWSON, Russell Harry Aubrey
| Service Number: | 69 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 40th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Launceston Tasmania, Australia, 24 June 1878 |
| Home Town: | Scottsdale, Dorset, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 29 July 1917, aged 39 years |
| Cemetery: |
Kandahar Farm Cemetery, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 1 Jul 1916: | Involvement Private, 69, 40th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Hobart embarkation_ship: HMAT Berrima embarkation_ship_number: A35 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Jul 1916: | Embarked Private, 69, 40th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Berrima, Hobart |
Help us honour Russell Harry Aubrey Dawson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
His son, 2021 Private Alexander Dawson 12th Battalion AIF was killed in action at Mouquet Farm 19/22 August 1916.
A second son, 4782 Private Sydney Albert Dawson 12th Battalion AIF returned to Australia during May 1919.
Private Russell Harry Aubrey Dawson enlisted in March 1916, was given the regimental number 69 and left Australia as an original member of the 40th Battalion, which was principally raised in Tasmania. He gave his age as 41 years and 9 months when he enlisted in Claremont, Hobart. He served in France from November 1916, and was killed in action, on the 29th July 1917.
Russell’s wife, Mrs. Catherine Dawson stated in her application for his war gratuity that he had been a stretcher bearer in the 40th Battalion until he had received a great “shock” and had to give up stretcher bearing. In his Red Cross file one of the witnesses to his death, Sgt. B.W. Dennis said that Dawson had been the batman to the Medical Officer of the battalion, was short, had a short face, big lips and had been known as “Jumbo” Dawson. He also bluntly stated that Dawson had his head blown off by a shell at Messines Ridge. Several other soldiers gave a remarkably similar description of him, and also of his death, stating that he was cleaning the Medical Officer’s boots outside a dugout when killed instantly by an exploding shell. Russell Dawson is buried in Kandahar Farm Cemetery, Belgium.
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