Clarence Ross MITCHELL

Badge Number: 4614, Sub Branch: Gawler
4614

MITCHELL, Clarence Ross

Service Numbers: 5033, S68333
Enlisted: 27 March 1916
Last Rank: Corporal
Last Unit: 2nd (SA) Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC)
Born: Kadina, South Australia, 14 May 1888
Home Town: Kadina, Copper Coast, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Farmer
Memorials: Blyth Boys of the Blyth District WW1 Roll of Honour , Kadina & District WW1 Roll of Honor
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World War 1 Service

27 Mar 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 5033, 27th Infantry Battalion
24 Jun 1916: Involvement Private, 5033, 27th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Bulla embarkation_ship_number: A45 public_note: ''
24 Jun 1916: Embarked Private, 5033, 27th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Bulla, Adelaide

World War 2 Service

1 Apr 1942: Involvement Corporal, S68333, 2nd (SA) Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC)
1 Apr 1942: Enlisted Adelaide, SA
1 Apr 1942: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Corporal, S68333
20 Sep 1945: Discharged

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Biography contributed

Contributed by St Ignatius College, Adelaide

Clarence Ross Mitchell was born to Isabelle Spence Mitchell and James Mitchell on 14th of May, 1888 in Kadina. His family took residence managing a farm in Boors Plains, a rural locality near Kadina on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula. Clarence Ross Mitchell was the sixth child out of eleven. He and his siblings attended primary school at a Methodist church, which meant walking roughly two kilometres through a paddock.


After leaving school, he followed the family occupation and became a farmer, until he volunteered to serve in World War One. He signed up on March 27, 1916, at age 27 and 10 months. One of his older brothers, and child five, was William John Mitchell, nicknamed ‘Will’ by Clarence Ross Mitchell in a letter. He had signed up 27 days earlier. They had consecutive service numbers. Clarence Ross Mitchell was 5033, whereas William John Mitchell was 5034. Once inducted into the 27th Infantry Battalion, 13th Reinforcement, they left Australia on board the HMAT Bulla (A45) on the 23rd of June 1916 to Rollestone Camp in England for training; they were a part of the 7th Training Battalion.

The Reinforcement joined the unit on the 2nd of October, 1916, landing in Etaples, France. Mitchell moved with the unit until the 5th of November 1916 when he was wounded after being shot in the right arm. The enemy had attacked, which left numerous soldiers wounded or missing. He was moved through ambulance train to Rouen. There, Mitchell was taken to England for treatment in a general hospital.


One of the missing soldiers reported from the battle was Norman Robert Smith, the Mitchells’ brother-in-law, having been married to their younger sister. Smith was killed at Flers Bayonet Trench. Clarence Ross Mitchell read about Smith’s death in the newspaper and then gave an eyewitness physical description of his brother-in-law. Norman Robert Smith was survived by his two children, Leonard, and Norma.


After recovery, Mitchell was sent back into the battalion on the 19th of February 1917 where the unit was at the military camp Sussex having been relieved the previous day by another battalion. A month later, Mitchell had been hit by another gunshot wound in the right arm on the 23rd of March, 1917 in between communes Lagnicourt-Marcel and Noreuil in France. The battalion took a surprise attack on the enemy, the day had been full of artillery fire. At this point, both sides were active in fighting Previous and post days had days of back and forth listed.7 He then went on the journey back to England, via Rouen again. Taken to another general hospital in England, Mitchell was left to again recover.

He rejoined the fight on the 26th of October, 1917 where the battalion was stationed next to Steenvoorde, on the border of Belgium. On the 9th of July, 1918, Mitchell found himself injured once more with a gunshot wound, this time to his right foot. In the unit diary, it was claimed that nothing in particular was happening that day beyond the usual. Clarence Ross Mitchell did not return to the front after this injury, now recovering throughout the end days of the war. Sadly, his brother William John Mitchell was killed during the remaining months. On the 29th of August, 1918, William John Mitchell was killed instantly by a burst of bullets. He had been leading a platoon when it happened. His body was buried by the Somme Canal. William John Mitchell had risen to the position of sergeant. He was 31 years old at time of death He had been 29-years-old when he joined the army.

Private Clarence Ross Mitchell received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal after the war. He served for two years and 236 days abroad and two years and 363 days in total. His service technically ran into 1919, when the corps were dissolved. Mitchell returned to Australia on the 20th of December, 1918, age 30. Once returned, Clarence Ross Mitchell moved into Adelaide, changed occupation, got married, and had a child. His wife was named Cora Alice Mitchell, having taken his last name. Their daughter was Audine Mitchell. Not much can be found on either person. Mitchell’s new career was a lorry driver.

This, however, was not the end of Clarence Ross Mitchell’s military service. Aged 53 and 10 months, he volunteered for service in World War II, signing the Oath on the 1st of April, 1942. Memories of the First World War still lingered on Mitchell’s body. Under distinctive marks in his military medical records, Clarence Ross Mitchell described the wounds he suffered in the Great War. Entering another war, his new number was S68333. Mitchell was placed into the 2nd (SA, Prospect) Battalion, Volunteer Defence Corps, or the VDC. This corps was a collection of largely part-time ex-servicemen who helped with numerous jobs. These men would do jobs such as training incoming soldiers and protecting Australia with coastal artillery. Mitchell was promoted to corporal on an unclear date, likely the 29th of February 1944. He continued to work for the VDC until the end of the war when the corps were disbanded on the 20th of September, 1945.

Sometime after the Second World War, Clarence Ross Mitchell moved to Perth where he lived until his passing. Another older brother of his, and child four of the family, James Allan Mitchell had also died in Perth. James Allan Mitchell, William John Mitchell and Clarence Ross Mitchell were born within four years of each other, they would have been very close to one another. Clarence Ross Mitchell had also been communicating to James Allan Mitchell while injured throughout the First World War, particularly with his worries of not knowing how William John Mitchell was doing. James Allan Mitchell died in 1964, aged around 78. Clarence Ross Mitchell outlived both of this close brothers, finally resting at about age 92, living to 1980.

 

Reference List

-          Mitchell, J 2016, Clarence Ross Mitchell, geni_family_tree, viewed 23 May 2023, https://www.geni.com/people/Clarence-Mitchell/6000000039193036017

 

-          MITCHELL Clarence Ross : Service Number - 5033 n.d., National Archives of Australia, viewed 23 May 2023, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7982342

 

-          MITCHELL CLARENCE ROSS : Service Number - S68333 1942, National Archives of Australia, viewed 24 May 2023, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=6416092

 

-          MITCHELL William John : Service Number - 5034 1916, National Archives of Australia, 25 May 2023, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7984071

 

-          Longo, D (ed.) 2018, Pens and Bayonets, Wakefield Press, p. 166–171.

 

-          Smith Norman Robert : SERN 5070 1914, National Archives of Australia, viewed 25 May 2023, https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=1786729

 

-          AWM4 23/44/19 - March 1917, www.awm.gov.au, viewed 27 May 2023, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1343906

 

-          AWM4 23/44/35 - July 1918, www.awm.gov.au, viewed 27 May 2023, https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1343466?image=6
 

-          Volunteer Defence Corps (SA) n.d., vwma.org.au, viewed 27 May 2023, https://vwma.org.au/explore/units/687

 

-          James Allan Mitchell 2016, geni_family_tree, viewed 28 May 2023,
https://www.geni.com/people/James-Mitchell/6000000039193236916

 

-          McGuire, R, Rodda, B & Moyle, A 2023, A file of compiled images and documents by Alison Moyle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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