NORTH, Hero Clarence
| Service Number: | 1914 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 March 1916, Adelaide, South Australia |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 5th Pioneer Battalion |
| Born: | Colton, South Australia, 23 May 1895 |
| Home Town: | Colton, Elliston, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Colton Public School South Australia |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 5 November 1916, aged 21 years |
| Cemetery: |
Heilly Station Cemetery |
| Memorials: | Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Elliston War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 13 Mar 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1914, Adelaide, South Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 11 Apr 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 1914, 5th Pioneer Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '5' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Aeneas embarkation_ship_number: A60 public_note: '' | |
| 11 Apr 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 1914, 5th Pioneer Battalion, HMAT Aeneas, Adelaide | |
| 5 Nov 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 1914, 5th Pioneer Battalion, 'The Winter Offensive' - Flers/Gueudecourt winter of 1916/17 |
A North son from a West Coast farm
Private Hero Clarence North: 23rd May 1895 - 5th November 1916
We go back in time to 13th March 1916, when a young West Coast man with dark brown hair and hazel eyes, travels to Adelaide to enlist in the Base Light Horse Division of The Australian Imperial Force.
He is given the rank of Private and assigned to the 5th Pioneer Battalion and is sent to the Base Light Horse Depot at Mitcham S.A for training.
The young man was Hero Clarence (Clarrie) North, second son of Hero Clair & Rosina North and grand-son of West Coast Pioneers, George & Lydia North, the first Greek to settle in S.A.
Clarrie was born on 23 May 1895 and raised at Newland Grange, Colton and worked on his family’s farm. He was a clever athlete, receiving a silver cup to acknowledge his winning the Colton Sheffield Handicap on the 18th March 1912.
He and his brother James (Jim) were also football players of “some standing” for the Colton Football Club [1]. Just before Clarrie enlisted they played in a Patriotic Match against McLachlan FC on an oval 300 metres west of Mount Wedge Homestead. After the game a dance was arranged in J Bascomb’s woolshed with popular musicians Clarrie, Jim and Alex North providing modern music and gifted singer Barbara (Babs) Fraser on vocals. When the night was almost at an end, it was discovered that someone had released all of the horses from the yard, so the dance continued until morning when the horses were found. Clarrie was also a singer with a splendid voice and finally closed the dance with the then popular song Farewell Ezabelle [1]. The Norths were a well known musical family and played and sang at many events on the West Coast and as far afield as The Kings Ballroom on King William Street in Adelaide.
Clarrie was in training for the South Australian Mounted Police when England and its allies were thrust into WW1. After his training at Mitcham he had three days leave to go home to Colton and say good-bye to his family, but his sweetheart Babs Fraser was away on holidays and never saw him again. It is not known if Clarrie sent letters home to Babs from the Western Front, but she waited five years before eventually marrying Walter Whitehead on 17th August 1921 in Adelaide, she was 28 years old at the time.
On the 11th April 1916 his battalion embark from Outer Harbour S.A (Clarrie’s cousin Nora North was there to bid him farewell) on their journey to the other side of the world aboard the HMAS Aeneas arriving in the Suez on 16th June 1916. From there they travel to Alexandria in Egypt, where they board the H.T Ivernia, which takes them to Marseilles, France, arriving on the 29th June 1916.
From Marseilles they travel by train to Etaples, they engaged in active service near Albert, France on 31st August 1916. It was the Battle of Somme, which stretched across a 40Km front on both sides of the River Somme and which on it’s first day (1/7/1916) claimed the lives of more than 19,000 British Empire troops. It was one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War with more than a million casualties.
It was in the Battle of the Somme that, on the 4th November 1916, Clarrie received a gunshot wound to the chest and was taken to the 38th Casualty Clearing Station, which was based at Heilly from May 1916 to June 1917. Clarrie died there the next day.
He was laid to rest on 5th November 1916 at the Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-L’Abbe, Somme, France.
Hero & Rosina received the telegram (the bitter yellow rain as it was then called) a week or two later, advising that their son had been killed in action on the battlefields of France.
He was awarded the Victory Medal; British War Medal and the 1914/1915 Star and a Memorial Plaque & scroll, which were sent home to Hero & Rosina in December 1922.
British historian Sir James Edmonds stated, "It is not too much to claim that the foundations of the final victory on the Western Front were laid by the Somme offensive of 1916.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs website,
“Australian forces moved to France from Egypt in early 1916 after resting, refitting and re-organising, following the Gallipoli campaign the previous year. From 1916 to 1918 Australian troops in France and Belgium fought in some of the most momentous and costly battles in our history. More Australians were killed in battle or died of their wounds on the Western Front than in all other battles ever fought by Australia.”
[1] book entitled: Across the Bar to Waterloo Bay
Submitted 18 April 2016 by Mario Jaspers
Biography
Hero Clarence North was born in July, 1893 with brown hair and hazel eyes into the town of Colton, Australia, the son of Rose and Hero North. Hero North (Hero Clarence’s father) was the child of George Tramountanas, the first Greek settler in South Australia. George changed his last name to North because when he came to Australia he was made fun of due to his last name; Tramountanas meaning North Star. Hero was a single, 20-year-old labourer when he enlisted in Adelaide on the 15th of March 1916. He was assigned to the 2nd Reinforcements of the 5th pioneer Battalion as a private (service no. 1914). This battalion was created in 1916 and were part of every action undertaken by the 5th Division, starting at Fromelles and were part of the Hundred Days campaign in late 1918 which occurred after Hero’s death. - [National Archives] [RSL]
Although Hero was a short person by today’s standards (5 feet 8 ½ inches) and having no previous military records, he was let into the Australian Army because he was a farmhand, a good runner with good health, making him a desirable soldier. - [The AIF project]
Hero had been known to be amazing with horses, winning some races in his home town. Hero was born in Colton, SA near Elliston into a big family, living in a house with many relatives. He went to Colton state school and was raised as a Roman Catholic. - [RSL] [AWM]
Just under one month after his enlistment, he embarked on a journey aboard the HMAS Aeneas on the 11th April 1916, arriving in Suez, Egypt on the 16th June 1916 to commence training, where he celebrated his 21st birthday. From there they travelled to Alexandria in Egypt to board the H.Y Ivernia on the 21st of June which took them to Marseilles, France, arriving on the 29th of June 1916. From Marseilles Hero travelled to inland France by train to Etaples where he began fighting in the battle of the Somme on the 31st of August, 1916. - [North Descendants] [The AIF project] [RSL]
The battle of the Somme was one of the most brutal of the war, with 60,000 casualties on the British side within the first 24 hours. This battle stretched across a 40 kilometre front on both sides of the river Somme. - [History.com/google]
Considering he fought in the same trenches and frontlines, Hero would have lived in the same unsanitary, muddy and very claustrophobic conditions for extended periods of time. Hero only had just over a dozen items he brought with him such as a crucifix, prayer book, rosary and miniature bible, it can be assumed that Hero spent the majority of the war when not fighting, being connected to God through prayer. - [National Archives] [North descendants]
As described in a letter he sent home, all he could hear was the sound of ‘constant gunshots’ and ‘cannons all around’. He also stated that as well as saying artillery was always being fired directly above the trenches, he said that he was used to these conditions. Part of the letter had been covered up in black markings, this is called Army Censorship. All letters had to be read through before sent off from the war incase of any description or detail the army wanted to keep private. It was usually something happening in the war or something negative about it. - [WWI digital archive]
On the 4th of November 1916 during the battle of the Somme, he received gunshots to the chest and was immediately rushed to Heilly hospital, and died the next day of wounds, on the 5th of November, only at the age of 21 and 6 months. He was buried at Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-L'Abbe, Somme, France. A formal letter was sent home to his mother notifying her of Hero’s death. These letters are formal and distant as thousands of these would have been sent to homes every week and spear time was something these people did not have. Despite the type of language used the mother would have been devastated and had to take in the realization in a heart breaking way. - [The AIF Project]
Hero Clarence North’s service in the Somme truly reflects the meaning of the ANZAC spirit. The fact that Hero enlisted in the war himself without being forced, shows his bravery and determined mind to fight as a soldier in WWI and make his country proud. Fighting in the war would have been a complete change in lifestyle for him because of his typical family farm lifestyle. To have the courage and bravery to make this very important and life changing decision shows just how much Hero Clarence North reflected the ANZAC spirit. His legacy and service in this war meant a great deal to the North family as he showed great bravery and lively spirit.
"THE LATE PRIVATE C. NORTH.
News has been received by Mr. and Mrs. H. C. North that their second son, Private Clarence North, had died of wounds in a field hospital in France after being in action some time. He was considered by many as the best all-round athlete and good runner on Eyre Peninsula. He enlisted in the Light Horse in the early part of the year, being a re markably smart man with horses. He was drafted into another arm of the forces and sailed for Egypt early in April, where he spent his twenty-first birthday. He was educated at the Colton Public School and was a general favorite. He was a fine singer. He was a member of the choir at St. Aiden's Catholic Church, Colton. His cousin, Private Hero Boylan, is thought to have been fatally wounded in the same engagement." - from the Adelaide Chronicle 02 Dec 1916 (nla.gov.au)
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