CHURCH, Alexander
| Service Number: | 3776 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 19th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Leichhardt, New South Wales, Australia, May 1895 |
| Home Town: | Leichhardt, Leichhardt, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 28 July 1916 |
| 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) |
World War 1 Service
| 20 Jan 1916: | Involvement Private, 3776, 19th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Runic embarkation_ship_number: A54 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 20 Jan 1916: | Embarked Private, 3776, 19th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Runic, Sydney |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
Church’s association with the NSWGR was slender (a labourer at White Bay Power Station), but nevertheless he was accepted by the organisation for the benefits which would apply to its employees serving in the military, and when he did die on active service his name was included in their Roll of Honour.
On 18 March 1916 he was admitted to hospital at Moascar (Egypt) with Influenza. He was transferred to Abbassia hospital and discharged to the No. 3 Auxiliary Hospital at Heliopolis with Bronchitis. In April he was admitted to the British Red Cross Hospital at Montazah, discharged to the 5th Training Battalion a Tel-el-Kebir on 21 April, and finally taken on the strength of that unit on 3 May.
He was killed in action on 28 July 1916. He was digging a ‘dug-out’ in a second line of trenches at Pozières, having been in the front line all day, when a fragment of shell went through his brain, killing him instantly. He was buried close to where he fell, but the site was lost, he has no known grave and his name is recorded at the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Picardie, France.
Submitted 27 May 2023 by John Oakes