SYKES, Albert Edwin
| Service Number: | 3480 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 July 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 13th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Hay, New South Wales, Australia, 1894 |
| Home Town: | Goulburn, Goulburn Mulwaree, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Kenmore Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Telephone mechanic |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 5 February 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs, Picardie Plot IV, Row B, Grave No. 5, Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs, Peronne, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Sydney NSW Post Master General's Department Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 13 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3480, 13th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 13 Oct 1915: | Involvement Private, 3480, 13th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Lincoln embarkation_ship_number: A17 public_note: '' | |
| 13 Oct 1915: | Embarked Private, 3480, 13th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Port Lincoln, Sydney | |
| 5 Feb 1917: | Involvement Sergeant, 3480, 13th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3480 awm_unit: 13 Battalion awm_rank: Sergeant awm_died_date: 1917-02-05 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Albert Sykes was appointed a temporary CSM at Codford in England during March 1916, but reverted to Private when sent overseas to France 28 November 1916. According to eye witnesses in his Red Cross file he was severely wounded in the back by a piece of shell during the attack on Gueudecourt on 4 February 1917. He insisted on waiting in the trench until other wounded had been taken out. Albert Edwin Sykes died of his wounds overnight. Several of the witnesses referred to him as a Sergeant Major.
His older brother 798 Private James Arthur Sykes 2nd Battalion AIF, died of wounds at Gallipoli on the 14 June, 1915, age 24.
A third older brother, 6641A Private Robert Leonard Sykes 17th Battalion AIF, was killed in action 9 August 1918, age 24.
A fourth older brother, 2776 Sergeant Walter William Sykes of the 55th Battalion AIF was the only one of the four brothers to return to Australia. He died in 1923, age 37, from gastritis and septic peritonitis.
When the Sykes family were located in Hay (c.1894-1898), they lived at Marked Tree Point, on the Gunbar Road. This would have been close to the railway line, which Robert’s father helped to maintain.
The family moved to Kenmore in the Goulburn District, NSW around the turn of the century.
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