SIMMONDS, Edward Ernest
| Service Number: | 2982 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 1 March 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 55th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Edi, Victoria, Australia, 8 August 1890 |
| Home Town: | Wagga Wagga, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Wagga Experimental Farm, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Killed in action, France, 4 July 1918, aged 27 years |
| Cemetery: |
Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, France Plot III, Row C, Grave No. 14. IN MEMORY OF OUR DEAR SON & BROTHER GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Wagga Wagga Cenotaph, Wagga Wagga Victory Memorial Arch |
World War 1 Service
| 1 Mar 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2982, 55th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 25 Oct 1916: | Involvement Private, 2982, 55th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: '' | |
| 25 Oct 1916: | Embarked Private, 2982, 55th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Sydney |
Help us honour Edward Ernest Simmonds's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
One of four brothers who served in the AIF, his younger brother, No.3469 Private David John Simmonds, 55th Battalion AIF was killed in action on the Somme, France on 24 May 1918.
Remarkably they are buried side by side in the Daours Communal Cemetery Extension, in Plot III, Row C, graves 13 and 14.
There is no mention of this fact in their service files, and it is an extremely rare occurrence for two brothers to be buried alongside one another, especially considering Edward died some six weeks after his brother. Whoever buried Edward must have deliberately laid the remains beside those of his brother.
They also both have a commemorative headstone in the Wagga Cemetery.
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