TRUE, Charles Thomas
| Service Number: | 1193 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 9 April 1915, Citizen Forces and 91st Infantry, Penguin |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 26th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Ulverstone, Tasmania, Australia, July 1896 |
| Home Town: | Ulverstone, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Postal assistant |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 29 July 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Hobart Postmaster General's Department Glorious Dead Honour Roll, Hobart Postmaster-General's Department WW1 Honour Roll, Ulverstone Primary School War Memorial, Ulverstone Shrine of Remembrance, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 9 Apr 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1193, 26th Infantry Battalion, Citizen Forces and 91st Infantry, Penguin | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Jun 1915: | Involvement Private, 1193, 26th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
| 29 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 1193, 26th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Aeneas, Brisbane |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From Gallipoli, 1915
Pte. Charles Thomas True, “D” Company, 26th Battalion Australian Infantry, wrote to his father, Thomas, at Ulverstone, Tasmania, on 17th September 1915. His older brother had been killed on the peninsula in May.
“You will see I am at the Dardanelles. Stuart Harman, Bill Jeffrey (Zeehan) and I are in the same dug-out. We are on the top of a hill, and all night the bullets come whistling over us, but they are too high to hit us. Our dug-out is a good way from the firing line. We are often fired at by Turkish snipers as we go for water, but we are getting used to it. The other morning we were subjected to shrapnel fire as we were going along a sap. We soon got under cover, though a few of our fellows were hit. We are engaged this week making a
road; I am pretty good on the pick and shovel now. The weather at present is similar to that of Tasmania. It is grand to lie in our dug put at night and watch the ships firing at the forts...
“The war is carried on a lot different to what thought; you have no idea in Australia what is going on here. We get very good food. Nearly all the fighting is done at night, but we sleep pretty well. All the Ulverstone boys are well. In spite of all we have to put up with, it is not a bad life. I reckon we will finish the enemy off in a couple of months. I have had splendid health so far, and feel fit for anything. The Turks have just started shelling our water tank, and the boys are going for their lives to cover, as shrapnel is not a nice thing to have bursting over you.” [1]
His brother, 19 year-old Pte. George Haviland True, 12th Battalion Australian Infantry, was killed in action on 20th May 1915. He is buried in Shell Green Cemetery, Anzac.
Charles True was killed in action on the Somme on 29th July 1916. The 19 year-old is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France.
They were the sons of Thomas Charles True, of Ulverstone, Tasmania, and the late Charlotte True.
[1] 'The North Western Advocate and the Emu Bay Times' (Tasmania), 20th November 1915.
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