Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

"THE LATE LANCE-CORPORAL F. B. KENT.

Lance-Corporal F. B. Kent, of the 9th Light Horse, son of Mr. and Mrs. T. D. Kent, of Burnside, died of wounds received in action on July 10, and was buried at sea. Lance-Corporal Kent was for some time farming at Streaky Bay, where he was well known and highly respected by a wide circle of friends." - from the Adelaide Chronicle 28 Aug 1915 (nla.gov.au)

"LCE.-CPL. KENT

The late Lce.-Cpl. F. B. Kent, who died from wounds received at Gallipoli, was a native of the west coast. After having lived in Western Australia for some years he returned to this State, and took up farming near Streaky Bay. He was of a manly and genial disposition, and was respected by all who knew him. He is the first volunteer from Streaky Bay who has fallen at the war." - from the Adelaide Observer 04 Sep 1915 (nla.gov.au)

"FRANK KENT'S LAST LETTER.

Lance-Corporal F. B. Kent, of Chilpenunda, whose death at the front was reported in last issue, wrote as follows to his brother, Mr H. Kent, two days before he was wounded:—

". . . Don't worry about me, as I have enough luck to win Tattersall's. Shrapnel has missed me twice by inches. An eight inch shell burst on top of the trench, blew the pipe out of my mouth and filled me with smoke and dust. I thought my head was off with concussion. Another three inch shell came through my place in the firing line, but, fortunately, I had moved away half a minute before. I am quite well, get plenty to eat and smoke, but run short of sleep at times. Turks attacked our position the other night and were repulsed easily. They lost forty to our one. In one place they got into our trench, but bombs settled them. Further around some reached our parapet; they simply came forward to be shot, crying Allah! Allah! They are starting to hum now, this warm weather. The stench was bad when we first came here, as some thousands were not buried then, and one day they had a truce to bury them. The Turk's are no good at charging; they have no dash. Their clothes are much the worse for wear, and there is a shortage in boots, but they look after their rifles. We have them well under with rifle fire in the day time. They shoot erratically at night. The night they attacked, we were subjected to heavy gun fire without much result. We have the sea for a background, and now we are in the rest trenches we have a swim every day. We have destroyers to guard us and partrol the sea; they are long narrow boats, with three propellers; they are very fast, and can turn quickly. There are cruisers with heavy guns, mine sweepers, supply and hospital ships. A monitor is often here with a hydroplane for a scout. A monitor's deck is almost on the waterline. She carries heavy guns. It is interesting to watch the hydroplane settle and rise off the water. Aeroplanes are common. Sometimes they drop bombs on the enemy's trenches, and often get fired at with schrapnel. When shrapnel bursts it makes a little white cloud, and so marks the shot. The country here is hilly; in fact we climb 600ft. to get to the firing line. In one part our trench is twelve yards off the Turks. We live in dugouts, and at night both sides amuse themselves by throwing bombs. No one from Streaky Bay has been hit yet. Charlie Cotton is well; he is two feet off now in our little dugout. He is frightened of nothing, and very solid. He wishes to be remembered to you all. We have a good troop leader and sergeant, and the biggest troop in the squadron. I have lost Charlie Jolly out of my section; there is something wrong with his chest; he is in the hospital. I have received your letters fairly regular, and look forward to them very much. A chap gave me some paper and four envelopes to-day. Most of us are writing on cardboard and cigarette boxes. I will send some word along now and then to let you know how I am in luck."

A letter from Charlie Cotton (/explore/people/148867), dated July 9th., reads as follows:-

"Just a line to let you know that Frank was wounded by shrapnel yesterday morning, through the muscle of the arm and in the stomach. I tried to find him last night when I got back to camp, but he had gone out to the hospital ship, so, of course, I cannot find out anything about him, but he will receive the best of treatment there, as there are plenty of doctors and nurses aboard. I will miss the old chap after being with him so long. I think he wrote to you and posted the letter the day before, so I suppose he told you all we are allowed to say. I am writing as I don't suppose he will be able to do so for some time, and I sent word out to him that I would write home."

The chaplin of the hospital ship wrote to Mrs Kent as follows:—

"Hospital ship, July 13th., 1915. Dear Madam,—You will no doubt have heard of the death of your son, Lnc-Cpl. F. B. Kent. He came on board wounded by gun shot in the abdomen, and died on July 10th. He was very brave and patient in bearing his pain, and died like a fine soldier. That might give comfort that he died the noblest death any man could die. I buried him at sea, five miles off Gaba Tepe." - from the Streaky Bay West Coast Sentinal 04 Sep 1915 (nla.gov.au)