Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Reginald Port was the eldest child of Thomas Port and Mary Ann Amelia Baker. He was born in 1894 in Wagga Wagga and grew up in Lake Albert attending Lake Albert Primary School.

On 15 February 1916, age 21 years and 10 months, he enlisted in the Australian Army at Cootamundra, NSW. His occupation was Labourer and his next of kin given as his father, Thomas, in Lake Albert.

He underwent his army training at Goulburn. Whilst at Goulburn he contracted Scarlet Fever and was an inpatient of the Goulburn District Hospital for 49 days from 18 June to 5 August 1916.

He embarked from Sydney on 30 September 1916 on the Aeneas and arrived in Plymouth on 18 November 1916. On 21 December 1916 he was sent from Folkestone to France on the Princess Victoria and arrived at Etaples on 30 December 1916.

Assigned to the 56th Battalion, he was Wounded in Action at Bullecourt on 14 May 1917 and taken behind the front line to the 8th Australian Field Ambulance station where he died the same day. His record indicates he had Fractured Arms, Legs and Skull. He was buried at the Vaulx Main Dressing Station, 1 ¼ miles north east of Bapaume. He was 23 years old.

After the war he was reinterred by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission at the Favreuil British Cemetery. (Plot 1, Row B, Grave 26)

For a considerable period of time after his death, his parent sought particulars of his death from the Army which they were unable to provide. In 1920 his effects were returned to his parents and in a letter to the “Officer in Charge” dated 29 May 1920 his mother wrote to thank the Army for the return of his effects. She wrote “…I am proud to have reared a brave lad to keep our dear old flag flying and help our dear old sunny land free from the Huns. You Officers have had a strenuous time also and it is good to have such brave men to face such an ordeal as you have had to face…”

Reginald’s parents received the Memorial Plaque and Memorial Scroll commemorating his death and he was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal. He is also commemorated on the Honour Roll at the Lake Albert Primary School and on the Wagga Wagga Roll of Honour and Eternal Flame Memorial in the Wagga Wagga Victory Memorial Gardens as well as at the Australian War Museum in Canberra.

In 1921, Reginald’s sister, Lillian (Port) Bain, named her first-born son after her brother Reginald.

In April 2017, 100 years after his death, Reginald’s nephew, Philip Reginald Bain and his wife attended the ANZAC day service at Australian War Memorial at Villers Bretonneux and laid a wreath in his memory. They also visited his grave at Favreuil Cemetery and laid another wreath at the Menin Gate Memorial.