CLARK, Frank Edmund
| Service Number: | 6215 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 8 February 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 15th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 4 January 1894 |
| Home Town: | Gympie, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Cootharaba State School, Gympie, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation: | Blacksmith |
| Died: | Killed in action, France, 1 February 1917, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Gympie & Widgee War Memorial Gates, Kilkivan Shire of Kilkivan Great War Roll of Honor, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 8 Feb 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 6215, 15th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Sep 1916: | Involvement Private, 6215, 15th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Clan McGillivray embarkation_ship_number: A46 public_note: '' | |
| 7 Sep 1916: | Embarked Private, 6215, 15th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Clan McGillivray, Brisbane |
Help us honour Frank Edmund Clark's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Frank Edmund Clark was the son of William and Martha Clark, and husband of Lillian Pearl Clark, of Gympie, Queensland.
His younger brother, 4103 Pte. Norman Leslie Clark 25th Battalion AIF had died of disease in Etaples, France, on 9 June 1916, at 18 years of age.
Frank only joined the 15th Battalion in the front line on 6 January 1917. He was killed in action only three weeks later, when he took part a raid on 1 February 1917, near Gueudecourt, when the 15th Battalion attacked a section of the German front line known as Stormy Trench. The party consisted of 150 men and six officers, or one and half companies. The attack started at about 7.00 p.m. on a frontage of 500 metres. Although the enemy trenches were only 100 metres from the Australian lines, inadequate artillery support and poor overall planning caused the attack to fail. A German counter attack at 11 p.m. was beaten off. In the face of relentless German shelling of the captured trenches, and a stronger German counter attack at 4.30 a.m. the Battalion was forced to retire. Although 52 German soldiers were captured, the 15th Battalion’s casualties were 38 men killed, over 20 captured by the Germans and over 80 wounded.
No details of Frank’s death have come to light. A particularly sad aspect was that Frank Edmund Clark was married shortly before leaving Australia, and his wife gave birth to a child, only a couple of weeks before news of his death was sent home. The son, Mervyn Frank Clark was granted a pension of one pound per fortnight.