MILLER, Ernest William Albert
| Service Number: | 1601 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 20 November 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 51st Infantry Battalion (WW1) |
| Born: | Cookernup, Western Australia, Australia, 26 January 1899 |
| Home Town: | Donnybrook, Donnybrook-Balingup, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Donnybrook State School, Western Australia |
| Occupation: | Shop assistant |
| Died: | Killed in action, Mouquet Farm, France, 3 September 1916, aged 17 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Donnybrook Preston Road Board, Donnybrook War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 20 Nov 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1601, 11th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Feb 1915: | Involvement Private, 1601, 11th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Itonus embarkation_ship_number: A50 public_note: '' | |
| 22 Feb 1915: | Embarked Private, 1601, 11th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Itonus, Fremantle | |
| 3 Sep 1916: | Involvement Sergeant, 1601, 51st Infantry Battalion (WW1), Battle for Pozières , --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1601 awm_unit: 51 Battalion awm_rank: Sergeant awm_died_date: 1916-09-03 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Ernest William Albert Miller was born during January 1899. He had not reached the age of sixteen when he enlisted during November 1914. He joined the 11th Battalion at Gallipoli two weeks after the initial landing. He was promoted to Lance Corporal during August 1915. He was evacuated to England shortly after, suffering from influenza.
He eventually returned to Egypt, shortly after the Gallipoli evacuation, and was promoted to Corporal and transferred to the 51st Battalion. At the same time his father, 44-year-old William Boyd Miller, enlisted in Perth and set sail for Europe, arriving in France in June 1916.
Ernest was promoted to Sergeant a few weeks before the 51st Battalion was to make the last Australian attack on Mouquet Farm. Quite a remarkable achievement for a lad not 18 years of age to be made a Sergeant in the AIF. The battle cost the 51st Battalion heavily in casualties, many men becoming trapped in the warren of shell holes and trenches when the Germans made heavy counter attacks. Ernest was one of hundreds of Australians who were listed as missing after the battle. One man, in Ernest’s Red Cross Wounded and Missing file, stated he had seen Ernest’s body, shot through the forehead and he had related the facts to Ernest’s father who by that stage with the 51st Battalion.
Ernest Miller’s father would in 1917 be awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field before he eventually returned to Australia.
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