Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Captain Townsend enlisted in the 3rd Field Company Engineers as Sapper (160) at the outbreak of the war. Prior to embarkation he was promoted to 2nd Corporal but reverted back to Sapper at his own request. Townsend took part in the action at the Suez Canal, Egypt against the Turkish forces before landing at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915.

Mentioned in Despatches for his involvement in the action at Leane’s Trench, he was shortly thereafter promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and transferred to the 2nd Field Company Engineers. Whilst attached to the 2nd Field Company he was again Mentioned in Despatches, this time for his work in the construction of the evacuation piers and the demolition of the artillery guns during the evacuation of Gallipoli.

After transferring to the 1st Pioneer Battalion in early 1916, he was promoted to rank of Captain where he saw action at Pozieres, Ypres, Bullencourt and Menin Road in France and Belgium. For his work at Sailly and Pozieres Townsend was awarded the Military Cross in the 1917 New Years Honours List. Remaining with the Battalion until the war’s end, he returned to Australia on the H.T. Nestor on December 11 1919, after which he returned to his previous occupation as a mining engineer in Broken Hill before later returning to Sydney.

Re-enlisting in the 2nd Garrison Battalion in 1940 and was appointed Lieutenant., he was discharged medically unfit and placed on the retired list shortly thereafter. Captain Townsend died in 1948. He did not marry and was survived by his sisters, nieces and nephews.