SIMMONDS, Wilfred Price
| Service Number: | 5681 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 January 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 25th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Toowong, Brisbane, Qld., 1 March 1896 |
| Home Town: | Toowong, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Toowong and Taringa SS, Brisbane Boys Grammar School, University of Queensland |
| Occupation: | Student |
| Died: | Killed in Action, near Zonnebeke Church, Passchendaele, Belgium, 4 October 1917, aged 21 years |
| Cemetery: |
Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial XXII G 8, Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passchendaele, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Brisbane Grammar School Memorial Library WW1 Honour Board 2, University of Queensland WW1 Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 4 Jan 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 5681, 25th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Sep 1916: | Involvement Private, 5681, 25th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Clan McGillivray embarkation_ship_number: A46 public_note: '' | |
| 7 Sep 1916: | Embarked Private, 5681, 25th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Clan McGillivray, Brisbane | |
| 4 Oct 1917: | Involvement Corporal, 5681, 25th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 5681 awm_unit: 25 Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-10-04 |
Remembered Still
Shinty (as my Grandfather, Harold Horn, only ever called you),
I have read a great deal about you since I discovered my Grandfather's diaries from WWI, still in perfect condition when my elderley mother moved out of her home a few years back. My Grandfather never got over your loss - you and he - best friends at Brisbane Grammar School, enlisted together on the same day in January 1916, with sequential service numbers, and with shared dreams of going on to study Medicine. My Grandfather did so, and no doubt you were with him every single day of his life, until he died - on ANZAC Day, 1962 - still suffering the consequences of the terrible mustard gassing he sustained on the very same battlefield that took your life and only days after you died. My mother told me that Grandpa never forgot you. She visited your grave in Belgium with her father in the early 1950s. It was, she said, the only day of her life she ever saw her father weep. I will remember you for him now. Thank you for your service and your extraordinary sacrifice. We cannot repay the debt.
Submitted 15 June 2023 by Elizabeth Jameson
Biography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Frederick and Louisa SIMMONDS, Ebor Street, High Street, Toowong, Queensland
He matriculated March 1915 in Science.
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