FORREST, Archibald James
| Service Number: | 3046 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 23 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 15th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Glasgow, Scotland, 1882 |
| Home Town: | Charters Towers, Charters Towers, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Miner |
| Died: | Killed in action, Gueudecourt, France, 1 February 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | "The Monument" Cloncurry, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Cloncurry & District Honour Board, Cloncurry War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 23 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3046, 26th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Dec 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 3046, 26th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Itonus embarkation_ship_number: A50 public_note: '' | |
| 30 Dec 1915: | Embarked Private, 3046, 26th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Itonus, Brisbane | |
| 1 Feb 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 3046, 15th Infantry Battalion, The Outpost Villages - German Withdrawal to Hindenburg Line, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 3046 awm_unit: 15th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-02-01 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Archibald James Forrest was born in Glasgow in 1882 but came to Queensland as an infant with his family in 1883. His mother and father were long dead before World War One.
He was taken on strength of the 15th Battalion in Egypt during April 1916. Forrest was recommended for a Military Medal during the fighting at Pozieres in August 1916, along with three other men.
“About 9.45 p.m. on the 8th August 1916 during operations near Mouquet Farm in an attack on the German trenches these members found they were detached from the Company. They noticed a great number of flares and considerable gunfire coming from the enemy’s trench. Corporal Missingham called on the others and they charged and gained a footing in the trench and bombed a way along the trench and accounted for 20 Germans, they continued along the trench and finding no enemy they jumped out and proceeded to get touch with their Company, along the way they collected some of the other men and got touch again. Pte. Forrest did exceptionally good work during the night.” No award was made.
Forrest next took part in 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 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. Forrest was reported as missing after the raid.
Lieutenant H.T. Crain stated in Forrest’s Red Cross Wounded and Missing file, “I went over the ground where he and his Battalion attacked, and found his body from which I took the 2 discs, (produced) and I had his body buried. This was at the end of February between Flers and Ligny Tilloy. He was buried where I found him and a small cross with name and number was erected.”
His grave could not be located after the war. His medals and entitlements went to a brother, Peter Forrest, who lived in Cloncurry, Queensland.
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