Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Frank Elder field Hernandez was born in 1895 in the town of Riverton, South Australia and lived with his Father and his wife Ellen Hernandez. Frank worked as a labourer before he enlisted for the war and was 21 years of age when he enlisted. Frank was a man who always tried to do his best and never gave up and this was noticeable because it was recorded in his casualty form that he was shot multiple times on his thigh. Getting shot in the thigh multiple times will hurt a lot and you won’t be able to walk for a while, and hearing this Frank was a man who tried to do his best for his country and was a brave soldier in his battalion which was the 10th battalion.

In January 1916 Frank left Adelaide traveling to Egypt to train in a place called Mena. It was 10 miles away for the capital of Cairo the training that Frank had to endure was arduous and intense. Soldiers had only a little leave even after hours as many pieces of training went for 8 hours a day, six days a week, all day long. In every valley of the Sahara, there were either men advancing, training or listening to their commanding officer on the 20th of March was frank gone missing for two days and was seen by a commanding officer called Sweeny from the 7-company battalion. On the 9th of August 1916, Frank was taken on strength meaning he moved to form the 10th battalion to the 3rd battalion Frank proved himself to be a good soldier so he moved up to a better battalion but to NSW based one. On the 5th of September Frank returned to sea now traveling to France to fight in the western front as one of the new waves of soldiers. When Frank landed, he could tell he was going to have a hard-few month. On the 6th of May 1917 after 11 months of intense fighting frank was wounded on the battlefield and was taken off, this was Franks's first time being shot and he would’ve been yelling and screaming. Frank recovered after a few days and returned to the battlefield.

On the 7th of July, while Frank was fighting, he was shot on the leg twice at the same time and being shot on the leg twice would be excruciating pain and he would’ve taken a long time to recover. On the 10th 3 days later Frank was determined to return to battle and so we when to the front lines with injured legs to fight but again he was shot on the leg which made his injured legs worse. Frank was taken off from the battlefield for the rest of the day. Frank didn’t give up even if he was shot this many times he kept fighting and on next day frank was out on the frontlines but again he was shot but in a different spot and this time it was the arm and the same thing happen he was taken and he rested for 3 days. On the 14th he returned on to the battlefield and fought and this time he was shot on the arm and on the thigh, frank was again taken off the frontline but he never gave up and still wanted to fight and so he did. And on the 15th he fought again with a destroyed body, but he kept a positive mindset to keep fighting. During the fighting, he was again shot on the thigh and was taken off and by this point, he was forced to spot fighting for a while. Franks's last moment on the battlefield was on the 5th of September 1917 when he returned and, but he has shot again and was finally taken off from the frontline.

On the 30/11/17 Frank was discharged due to being medically unfit and not because he did misconduct. Frank returned to Riverton south Australia to his wife Ellen Hernandez and his father, for his brave efforts in the war frank was awarded the British star medal, British war medal, and the victory medal. Frank lived the rest of his life until 1970 when he died at the age of 75 years, Frank was buried at the Centennial Park Cemetery in Goodwood south Australia frank was remembered as a strong and fierce soldier who never gave up and kept fighting as he was shot many times during the war.