BUSH, Clarence Vivian Roy
| Service Number: | 387 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 21 August 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 4th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Gunning, New South Wales, Australia, 1892 |
| Home Town: | Berremangra, Harden, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Berremangra Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Tram Conductor |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 5 May 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France), Yass & District WW1 Roll of Honour, Yass St Andrew's Honor Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 21 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 387, 4th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 387, 4th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Euripides embarkation_ship_number: A14 public_note: '' | |
| 20 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 387, 4th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Euripides, Sydney | |
| 5 May 1917: | Involvement Corporal, 387, 4th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 387 awm_unit: 4th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-05-05 |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
Clarence Vivien Roy BUSH, (Service Number 387) was born on 28 November 1891 at Gunning and commenced working as a casual tram conductor in Sydney on 21 December 1912. In March 1913 he resigned, but was re-employed six months later, still as a casual. He became a permanent employee in August 1915, although this was a year after he had been released from duty to join the Expeditionary Forces on 21 August 1914 and was in fact on Gallipoli.
He left Australia on 20 October 1914 from Sydney on board HMAT ‘Euripides’, travelling to Egypt from where he embarked for Gallipoli on 5 April. He was slightly wounded in a toe of his left foot, evacuated to Alexandria for treatment, and returned to the front on 21 May. His career over the next two years is a succession of periods at the front and periods of hospitalisations for both wounds and illnesses. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on 15 February 1916, and to Corporal on 17 January 1917.
Clarence Bush was awarded the Military Medal ‘for bravery in the field’. This award was promulgated in Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, No. 169 of 4 October 1917. Since Bush was dead by the time of this announcement, the medal was presented to his father as next of kin. However, he seems to have been aware of the award, as in his personal effects was included the ribbon of the Military Medal.
He was killed in action on 5 May 1917 in a communication trench in the Hindenberg Line near the village of Reincourt. The death seems to have been the result of the explosion of bombs he was carrying, or by a premature bomb thrown by a man behind him. He was hastily buried, as best his mates could do in the midst of a battle, and his grave was either marked with his rifle and helmet, a cross, or not at all. Among the eye-witness accounts from his mates, one records recovering the Military Medal. This would not have been possible as it had not been presented, but perhaps it was the ribbon that was found.
The grave is lost, and Bush is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France.
(NAA B2455-3175239)
Submitted 13 May 2023 by John Oakes
Biography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Charles and Eliza Bush, Berramangra, New South Wales
PRIVATE C. V. R. BUSH.
Private C. V. Roy Bush, reported as wounded at the Dardanelles is a son of Mr. C. T. Bush of Berramangra, Bowning, and left Sydney as a member of the 4th Battalion. Before joining the Expedionary Force, Private Bush was employed in the Tramway Department.
Military Medal
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 169
Date: 4 October 1917
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