CHILMAN, Percival John
| Service Number: | 627 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 August 1914, Morphettville, South Australia |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 50th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Adelaide, South Australia, 10 June 1895 |
| Home Town: | Midland, Swan, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Midland Junction State School |
| Occupation: | Storeman/Tailor |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Messines, Belgium, 10 June 1917, aged 22 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Hindmarsh WW1 Roll of Honour Heroes of the Great War, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient), Midland Church of The Ascension Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 19 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 627, Morphettville, South Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1914: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 627, 10th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Oct 1914: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 627, 10th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Adelaide | |
| 25 Apr 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 627, 10th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli | |
| 26 Apr 1915: | Wounded Private, 627, 10th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, GSW (right thigh) | |
| 27 Feb 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 50th Infantry Battalion | |
| 10 Jun 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 627, 50th Infantry Battalion, Battle of Messines, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 627 awm_unit: 50 Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1917-06-10 |
More about Percy
In 2017 my wife and I were in Europe and timed our visit to be at the Menin Gate for their nightly ceremony on 10 June 2017, 100 year anniversary of Percy's death. It was an extremely moving service. We also researched his possible burial site. His online war record shows a handwritten note with map co-ordinates stating where he was buried. I contacted the Australian War Memorial Research Section and they gave me a map of the area with the site roughly located. we also visited that spot and left a small cross in a fence post. The land owner was very obliging in letting us onto his land and said he would ensure the cross remained in place.
Submitted 21 January 2023 by Wayne Mitchell
What I know of Percy
Percy was my Grandmother's nephew and my Mother's first cousin. I knew nothing of his service until I was given his war letters a couple of years ago. Since then I have done some research and found that he was injured at Gallipoli and sadly killed at the Battle of Messines in Belgium on 10 June 1917, which even more sadly was his 22nd birthday. His war record has a hand written note stating he was buried at a map reference point given in the record. Paradoxically, he is listed on the Menin Gate, reserved for the missing and those with no known grave. My follow up research shows it was not unusual for soldiers to be buried in marked graves but many of those graves were in active battlefields, the markers were destroyed and evidence lost of the actual location.
Submitted 1 November 2016 by Wayne Mitchell
Biography contributed by Saint Ignatius' College
Percival John Chillan enrolled to fight for Australia on the 28th of August 1914 at the age of 19. He was born in Adelaide South Australia and spent most of his life in Perth, Western Australia earning money by working in local stores. Percy was 177cm, 66kg with brown eyes and dark brown hair and was part of the Church of England.
Percy embarked from Adelaide on the 20th of October 1914 on-board the HMAT Ascanius with the rest of the 10th battalion. After his training, he landed at Gallipoli on the 25th of April 1915. He was in the hospital quite a bit during his time at war His first injury was just before he even left Morphettville. He tripped over a tent peg and broke his collarbone.
On the second day at Gallipoli, Percy was wounded in action due to a bullet being shot through his right thigh going through the front and right out of the back. He was evacuated to Egypt for treatment and recuperation before re-joining his battalion in mid-June. 3 months later Percy was once again hospitalised for 5 weeks with a gastric infection and was evacuated to the 25th Casualty clearing Station, Imbros. Because of the high number of casualties, hospitals were very full and Percy had to move around a lot between different hospitals during these 5 weeks.
After a long and painful recovery, Percy finally re-joined his unit at Gallipoli in late October 1915. After evacuating from Gallipoli, Percy was transferred to 50th battalion on the 26th of February 1916. He was taken on strength which means he was permanently transferred to the 50th battalion.
On the 5th of June 1916, Percy proceeded from Alexandria to the British expeditionary. The British expeditionary force was the British army that was sent to the Western Front during the First World War.
Unfortunately for Percy, On the day after arrival in France, (mid-June 1916) he was once again hospitalised as the result of an ‘accident’ and was evacuated to England for treatment and recuperation. Percy spent a lot of this period of time in the hospital and sadly did not re-join his unit until late April 1917 which was nearly 10 months after his accident.
Percy Chilman fought a long and tough battle for his country but unfortunately, on the 10th of June 1917, he was killed in action at the young age of 22, at Messines. He has no known grave but he is commemorated on the Ypres, Menin gate Memorial located in Belgium.
Percy showed a lot of ANZAC spirit in the 3 years that he served. He didn’t get any special medals apart from the ones that everyone gets but I think there are still some ANZAC spirit qualities that Percy would have shown throughout his years in battle. To me, reading about everything he did whilst at war made me think of him to be a very persistent person, not just on the front line but throughout his whole experience too. Percy spent a lot of time recovering in hospitals which would have been very difficult and frustrating. Not just that but he had to do a lot of moving around hospitals from country to country. Even though he was getting sick and injured so often he never gave up. He kept on giving everything his all to fight for his country and that is what gave Percy Chilman ANZAC spirit.
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