Paul Benjamin COLLIS

COLLIS, Paul Benjamin

Service Number: 3586
Enlisted: 19 January 1916
Last Rank: Second Corporal
Last Unit: 1st Tunnelling Company (inc. 4th Tunnelling Company)
Born: London, Middlesex, England, April 1895
Home Town: Leichhardt, Leichhardt, New South Wales
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Engineer / Motor Mechanic
Died: 22 February 1976, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Not yet discovered
Memorials:
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World War 1 Service

19 Jan 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Sapper, 3586
22 May 1916: Involvement Sapper, 3586, 1st Tunnelling Company (inc. 4th Tunnelling Company), --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '6' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Warilda embarkation_ship_number: A69 public_note: ''
22 May 1916: Embarked Sapper, 3586, 1st Tunnelling Company (inc. 4th Tunnelling Company), HMAT Warilda, Sydney
16 Oct 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Sapper, 3586, 1st Tunnelling Company (inc. 4th Tunnelling Company), ANZAC / Gallipoli, 1st ANZAC Entrenching Battalion
26 Oct 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Sapper, 3586, 1st Tunnelling Company (inc. 4th Tunnelling Company), attached to 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company
1 May 1919: Promoted AIF WW1, Second Corporal, 1st Tunnelling Company (inc. 4th Tunnelling Company), promoted at Tidworth, England
9 Jan 1920: Involvement AIF WW1, Second Corporal, 3586, 1st Tunnelling Company (inc. 4th Tunnelling Company), returned to Australia onboard HT Megantic, ex England
20 Sep 1920: Discharged AIF WW1, Second Corporal, 3586, 1st Tunnelling Company (inc. 4th Tunnelling Company)

Help us honour Paul Benjamin Collis's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Julianne Ryan

From great-nephew Neil Coleman:

My Great Uncle, Paul Collis emigrated to Australia before the War and worked in the mines.
He had been a motor engineer in London, born in the East End, and he saw one of his open
topped buses from London in service in France, transporting troops.
He was at Hill 60 and he left me a cap badge given to him at Hill 60 by a soldier from the
Royal West Kents. He also left me a letter his cousin wrote to him, shot through the heart
and the letter whilst going over the top in another part of the line. My Great-Uncle Paul also
left me a letter he wrote whilst in a dug out under Hill 60 in which he describes travelling
there in an armoured train.

Great Uncle Paul Died in 1976, but I did return with myself to Hill 60 after my graduation
in 1973.  The picture attached to this profile - of him with his mates from the 1ST ATC in
an Estaminet in 1918. One of the soldiers in the Photo was featured in the film Beneath Hill
60. I sent a copy of the photo and it is on the films website.

Submitted by Julianne T Ryan, courtesy of great-nephew Neil Coleman.  23/03/2017.
Lest we forget.

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