Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

One of the first to enlist for war in August 1914, Louis Edwin Trawin was part of the Gallipoli landing, endured the big battles of 1916 and 1917, rose through the ranks to obtain a commission and was wounded three times before his military career and his life came to a sad and unfortunate end.

Born at South Melbourne in 1895, the eldest of six children to James Trawin, a public servant, and his wife Norah Kathleen (nee Dagon), he enlisted shortly after his nineteenth birthday. Having held a commission in senior cadets he was immediately given his corporal stripes and embarked the HMAT Horarata with the 7th Battalion on 19 October 1914 from Melbourne as part of the first contingent of the Australian Imperial Force. Elevated to Lance Sergeant whilst on board, he was promoted to Sergeant two days before the landing at Gallipoli.

Wounded in the hand shortly after the landing on April 25, he was evacuated to England for treatment. He returned to Gallipoli in early September and was subsequently promoted to Company Sergeant Major. Trawin remained on the peninsula with the 7th Battalion until it was evacuated in the early hours of 21 December 1915.

After further training in Egypt and with the reorganization of the AIF, he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant Trawin on 1 March 1916. He left with the 7th Battalion from Alexandria in the HMAT Magantic on 27 March for Marseilles, arriving on 31 March and immediately entrained for La Creche near Armentieres.

In early July 1916, the 7th Battalion moved to the Somme valley and on July 20 to Albert in preparation to support the assault on Pozieres. Following the capture of Pozieres in the early hours of 23 July, the 7th moved forward via Black Watch Alley to the Old German Line of trenches near Contalmaison, by assault and consolidation. Late in that afternoon Second Lieutenant Trawin received a shrapnel wound to the left thigh that required removal from the line and evacuation to England for treatment.

Recovering from his wound, he was promoted to Lieutenant and undertook training in England before returning to France in June 1917 and resuming duty with the 7th Battalion. During the Battle of Menin Road on 20 September, he received a bullet wound to his right calf that again required his evacuation to England. He was released from the 3rd London General Hospital at Wandsworth on 12 December 1917 and assigned to the Overseas Training Brigade at Longbridge Deverill near Sutton Veny.

But from here matters went awry. From December 17 he is reported absent from the training camp and remains missing for over a month before self-reporting to the camp commandant on 22 January 1918. Lieutenant Trawin was arrested and charged with being absent without leave. He faced a General Court Martial on 20 February 1918 at Wilton and pleaded guilty to the offence, offering no defence apart from a short statement “that he was absent for personal reasons that he could not divulge to the Court” and seeking leniency in sentencing based on his good record.

The Court found him guilty and ordered that he be dismissed from His Majesty’s Service and returned to Australia. The charge was confirmed by the King on 18 March 1919 and Trawin returned to Australia in HMAT A36 Borda on 5 April 1918.

Arriving back in Melbourne on 30 May 1918 and carrying the burden of his military dismissal, Louis Trawin returned to his employment in civilian life as a clerk in the public service. Tragically within 12 months he would be dead – a victim of the influenza pandemic sweeping the world at that time.

However, the matter of his dismissal from the military was not over, with the King quashing his conviction in September 1919 based on medical opinion, subsequently expressed, that pointed to mental imbalance at the time of the offence.

Sadly, it was too late for Lieutenant Louis Edwin Trawin who died on 20 April 1919; however, for his benefit and that of his family his name was cleared, his rank was re-instated and his service medals later forwarded to his father.