James Wilfred HARRAP

James Wilfred HARRAP Update Details

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HARRAP, James Wilfred

Service Number:	3345
Enlisted:	17 July 1915
Last Rank:	Lance Corporal
Last Unit:	59th Infantry Battalion
Born:	Rosedale, Victoria, Australia, 10 January 1891
Home Town:	Willung, Wellington, Victoria
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Farmer
Died:	Killed in Action, Belgium, 26 September 1917, aged 26 years
Cemetery:	No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Rosedale Shire Honour Roll, Sale Cenotaph, Sale Stradbroke Roll of Honor, Seaspray War Memorial

World War 1 Service

17 Jul 1915:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3345, 7th Infantry Battalion
11 Oct 1915:	Involvement Private, 3345, 7th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Nestor embarkation_ship_number: A71 public_note: Name incorrectly recorded on original record as "Harrup, James Wilfred"
11 Oct 1915:	Embarked Private, 3345, 7th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Nestor, Melbourne
24 Feb 1916:	Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 59th Infantry Battalion
10 Aug 1917:	Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 59th Infantry Battalion

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Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks

James Wilfred Harrap, 24 and his younger Ernest Merton Harrap, 20, both enlisted on the 17 July 1915, in their home town of Rosedale, Gippsland Victoria. The brothers left Australia together in October 1915, as members of the 7th Battalion AIF. In Egypt they both transferred to the 59th Battalion during the reorganising of the AIF. They were both at the Battle of Fromelles as part of the 5th Division. James was badly hit during the battle, suffering shrapnel wounds to the thigh, testicles and back, resulting in him being evacuated to England. He did not rejoin the 59th Battalion at the front until February 1917. Ernest was also wounded in action on the same day, with gunshot wounds to the elbow and left leg, and was also evacuated to England. He did not rejoin the 59th Battalion until April 1917.

James was promoted to Lance Corporal in August 1917, and posted as missing during the attack on Polygon Wood on the 26 September 1917. He was confirmed as killed in action by the Battalion Commander on the 22 March 1918. Ernest was killed by a direct hit from a shell and buried by Sergeant E.V. Eason. The two brothers both served in XXII Platoon, C Company, 59th Battalion, according to reports made by their mates. Both brothers were said to be killed by shell fire, and Ernest was reported as buried quite close to, only a few hundred yards, from the Buttes in Polygon Wood where the Fifth Division Memorial now stands. Neither body was found after the war, thus both are remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial.

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