Richard PRESTON

PRESTON, Richard

Service Number: 1065
Enlisted: 11 September 1914, An original of F Company
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 8th Infantry Battalion
Born: Strathfieldsaye, Victoria, Australia, 1879
Home Town: Kerang, Gannawarra, Victoria
Schooling: Kerang State School, Victoria, Australia
Occupation: Farmer
Died: Killed in Action, Gallipoli, Dardanelles, Turkey, 25 April 1915
Cemetery: Shell Green Cemetery, Gallipoli Peninsula
Artillery Road Plot 16
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Inglewood War Memorial
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World War 1 Service

11 Sep 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1065, 8th Infantry Battalion, An original of F Company
19 Oct 1914: Involvement Private, 1065, 8th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Benalla embarkation_ship_number: A24 public_note: ''
19 Oct 1914: Embarked Private, 1065, 8th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Benalla, Melbourne

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Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks

Richard Preston was a Boer War veteran, having served with the 5th Victorian Mounted Rifles in South Africa in his early twenties. He had previously seen service in the Kerang Mounted Rifles. He served from March 1901 - March 1902 in east Transvaal and Natal frontier, including the defeat at Wilmansrust where 18 were killed and 42 wounded (12 June 1901). On his Roll of Honour form his sister states that being too young to enlist in the Boer War he sold all his possessions to make his own way there, also that he was wounded twice and awarded the Queen and King's south Africa Medals with 6 clasps.

He was reported as killed in action on 25-26 April 1915 and he was buried in the small Artillery Road Cemetery. During 1923 all these graves were shifted to the Shell Green Cemetery.

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