Henry PLASTOW

PLASTOW, Henry

Service Number: 3164
Enlisted: Not yet discovered
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 25th Infantry Battalion
Born: Maryborough, Queensland, Australia, date not yet discovered
Home Town: Howard, Fraser Coast, Queensland
Schooling: Howard State School, Queensland, Australia
Occupation: Coal Miner
Died: Killed in Action, Broodseinde Ridge, Belgium, 4 October 1917, age not yet discovered
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Howard War Memorial, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient), Shire of Howard Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

17 Nov 1916: Involvement Private, 3164, 4th Pioneer Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '5' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Kyarra embarkation_ship_number: A55 public_note: ''
17 Nov 1916: Embarked Private, 3164, 4th Pioneer Battalion, HMAT Kyarra, Brisbane
4 Oct 1917: Involvement Private, 3164, 25th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3164 awm_unit: 25 Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1917-10-04

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Biography contributed by Ian Lang

Henry and George Plastow went off to the war together in 1916. They spent their time together in the pioneers and then an infantry battalion until Henry’s death a year later. Henry Plastow was 28 years old when he enlisted in Maryborough on 16th September 1916. His elder brother George, aged 33, enlisted, also in Maryborough, on 2nd October 1916. Both men named their mother, Harriet Plastow of Howard as next of kin. It is a reasonable assumption that the boys attended school at Howard.

The brothers both reported that they had been born in Maryborough and at the time of enlistment were working as coal miners at Howard. There were three other brothers in the family, Edward, Joseph and Frank as well as sister Lydia.

 

Henry reported to Enoggera Camp where he was placed in a depot battalion. His brother joined him in camp soon after and both were allocated as part of the 7th reinforcements of the 4th Pioneers. Pioneer battalions had been created to provide a light engineering workforce to assist with construction and repair work in the front line areas. They were also capable of acting as reserve infantry. Much of the work of pioneers involved trench digging or repair, road mending and filling shell craters.

 

Henry and George embarked in Brisbane on the “Kyarra” on 17th November 1916. The embarkation roll shows Henry and George with successive battalion numbers listed together on the roll of the 7th reinforcements of the 4th Pioneer Battalion. Upon arrival in Plymouth, the reinforcements boarded trains for the short journey to Sutton Mandeville, one of a number of Australian staging camps near the city of Salisbury.

 

While in camp, Henry went Absent Without Leave for a period of 36 hours. He was kept in the guard house for 5 days awaiting trial, before being found guilty and sentenced to one day of Field Punishment #2 and fined 35 shillings. Henry remained in various training battalions in the Salisbury area before being shipped across the English Channel to the western front. George Plastow had already been transferred to France and In the process of transit, it appears that  he was transferred to an infantry battalion; the 25th Battalion.

Henry similarly was transferred to the 25th and was taken on strength on 9th August 1917.

 

The main campaign in 1917 for the Australian divisions was in the Ypres salient, often referred to incorrectly by the name of the last battle of 1917; Passchendaele. When Henry and George joined the 25th, the battalion was in the rear areas to the west of Ypres preparing for the first in a series of battles which would advance the line by small increments towards the village of Passchendaele. The first of these “bite and hold” battles occurred on 17th September; the Battle of Menin Road. Menin Road was the first action that Henry and George were involved in. The battle had been well planned and all the troops taking part were given an opportunity to inspect a large sand model of the terrain over which they were expected to advance. The objective was taken within a few hours and the 25th was relieved to reorganise for another attack.

 

While the 25th was in relief, another battle further along the line of advance took place at Polygon Wood which paved the way for the 2nd Division AIF, which included the 25th Battalion, to stage a further offensive against a low ridge; Broodseinde Ridge.

 

The men of the 25th were lined up on the jumping off tapes waiting for their own artillery to lay down covering fire when German artillery began falling on the assembled men. It soon became apparent that the German barrage was a prelude to an attack. The Australians, spearheaded by the 25th rose up and moved up the slope where they encountered a German advance coming up the reverse slope through the dust and smoke. The battle quickly became one of hand to hand fighting with Lewis Guns fired from the hip and bayonets being wielded viciously. During this melee, Henry Plastow was reported as missing.

 

The Missing in Action notation was soon changed to Killed in Action. The history of the 25th Battalion, Black over Blue,  complied in 1997 contains a rare photograph of Henry Plastow with the caption:

Private Henry Plastow, B Company, 25th battalion; Pte Plastow was one of 40 men killed capturing and holding Broodseinde Ridge.

 

Henry’s body was never recovered from the battlefield. He is commemorated among the 54,000 missing on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres. Each evening, the citizens of Ypres halt traffic passing through the Menin Gate and conduct a commemorative ceremony which includes the laying of wreaths, the recitation of the Ode, and the playing of the Last Post by a dedicated group of volunteers. The ceremony has been conducted every evening since 1928 with only a small break during occupation in the 1940s.

 

Henry’s mother Harriet informed the authorities that  she had no knowledge of Henry’s father’s whereabouts and so she was granted his medals and memorial plaque. Brother George was gassed twice during his war service and was repatriated early back to Australia.

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