KREUTZBERG, Harold Robert
| Service Number: | 3332 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 36th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia, 20 February 1899 |
| Home Town: | Mudgee, Mid-Western Regional, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Sisters of Mercy, Mudgee, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Railway Porter |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 4 April 1918, aged 19 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Mudgee District Fallen Soldiers Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 2 Aug 1917: | Involvement Private, 3332, 36th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '17' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Miltiades embarkation_ship_number: A28 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Aug 1917: | Embarked Private, 3332, 36th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Miltiades, Sydney |
Help us honour Harold Robert Kreutzberg's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Enlisted and served under alias of Harold Robert KINGSTON - Son of Julius and Amy C. Kreutzberg, of Church St., Mudgee, New South Wales.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
Harold Robert KREUTZBERG (Service Number 3332) was born on 20th February 1899 in Mudgee. His father Julius was a local watchmaker and jeweller. He was a well-respected citizen, serving as German interpreter when required at the local courthouse. Harold was educated by the Sisters of Mercy at Mudgee and joined the NSW Government Railways as a junior porter in the Sydney District in February 1914, being paid a little extra for living away from home. In March 1916 he was able to transfer to the Eskbank District. He was working at Dunedoo when he decided to enlist. He enlisted in Sydney in January 1917. Although the family’s German ancestry was well known in Mudgee (and did him no harm: he was farewelled from the local railway station with three cheers) he chose (perhaps on the advice of the military authorities) to assume the surname ‘Kingston’ when he enlisted.
Initially he was allotted as a supernumerary to the 5th Railway Unit, but after six months in camp was discharged because he was ‘no longer required’. He re-enlisted in July 1917 and embarked in August with reinforcements for the 36th Battalion. He landed in Glasgow in October. He was a Temporary Corporal on the voyage but reverted to Private on joining a training battalion in England that month.
In March 1918 he was sent to France, and ‘taken on strength’ by the 36th Battalion. He was killed in action on 4th April 1918. He has no known grave but is remembered with honour on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
In 1920 his mother in Mudgee received his identity disc, ‘found by someone on the field of battle’. His parents, who had never abandoned their surname, had already received his service medals.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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