FALKNER, Reginald
| Service Number: | 1959 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 12th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Semaphore South Australia, August 1892 |
| Home Town: | Glenelg, Holdfast Bay, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Glenelg Public School |
| Occupation: | Shearer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Gallipoli, Gallipoli, Dardanelles, Turkey, 8 August 1915 |
| Cemetery: |
Lone Pine Cemetery, ANZAC Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Fremantle 849 Memorial, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing |
World War 1 Service
| 1 Apr 1915: | Involvement Private, 1959, 12th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Lincoln embarkation_ship_number: A17 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Apr 1915: | Embarked Private, 1959, 12th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Port Lincoln, Adelaide |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Geoff Tilley
Reginald Oliver Hutchinson Lilly Falkner was born in Semaphore South Australia in August 1892, to parents Samuel William and Eliza Catherine Falkner nee Lilly.
Reginald was one nine siblings with four sisters and four brothers. He attended the Glenelg public school.
It is unknown when he arrived in Western Australia, records show that he was living in Fremantle working as a shearer.
With the event of the World War 1, Reginald went to enlist in the Navy, however he was rejected due to his short sightedness. It was in March 1915 at Perth he enlisted with the AIF where he was attached to 12thBattalion.
He completed his training at Blackboy Hill before he embarked overseas with the 5th reinforcements from Fremantle in April 1915 headed for the Gallipoli Peninsula.
With his arrival at Gallipoli in June 1915 he was taken on strength with his battalion.
It was on 6th August 1915 the Australians succeeded in capturing three Turkish trenches at Lone Pine, where 12th Battalion moved in to reinforce the captured trenches.
It was during this time that the Turkish began to throw “bombs” (hand grenades) into the Australian trenches causing many casualties amongst the men of 12th Battalion.
The Australian chased these bombs as they landed in the trenches, throwing sandbags on them to localize the explosion. Corporal Elgar Hale reports that he was bending down to pick up a sandbag when a bomb exploded behind him knocking him over filling his eyes and mouth full of sand.
He reports that about half an hour later that a bomb exploded killing Reginald and two other 12th battalion boys. Reginald’s body was never located.
Private Reginald Oliver Hutchinson Lilly Falkner service number 1959 of 12th Battalion was killed in action at Lone Pine Gallipoli on 8th August 1915. He was 23 years of age.
He has no known grave and is remembered on the Lone Pine Memorial Gallipoli and is remembered with honour.
Note: details of Falkner’s death recorded in Andrew Pittaway’s “Fremantle Voices of the Great War” page 85 & 94. Photograph.
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