WILKIN, Francis Charles
| Service Number: | 1357 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 29th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Donald, Victoria, Australia, date not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Brunswick, Moreland, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Carpenter |
| Died: | Killed In Action, France, 30 September 1918, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Bellicourt British Cemetery |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 21 Oct 1915: | Involvement Trooper, 1357, 9th Light Horse Regiment, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '2' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: SS Hawkes Bay embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Oct 1915: | Embarked Trooper, 1357, 9th Light Horse Regiment, SS Hawkes Bay, Melbourne | |
| 25 Oct 1915: | Promoted Australian Army (Post WW2), Private, 9th Light Horse Regiment | |
| 6 Mar 1916: | Transferred Private, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, Francis Charles Wilkin was transferred to another Reserve Regiment, the 3rd Light Horse. | |
| 16 Mar 1916: | Wounded Private, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, Admitted to hospital for Diarrhea. | |
| 10 Sep 1916: | Wounded Private, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, Admitted to Hospital for 16 days after contracting VD. | |
| 5 Aug 1918: | Discharged AIF WW1, 3rd Light Horse Regiment, Francis Charles Wilkin was discharged from the regiment and later transferred to a new one of whom were fighting on the western front. | |
| 9 Aug 1918: | Embarked Private, 29th Infantry Battalion, Francis Charles Wilkin proceeded over seas to France on the western front. | |
| 14 Aug 1918: | Transferred Private, 29th Infantry Battalion, Francis Charles Wilkin fought with the 29th Battalion on the western front. | |
| 30 Sep 1918: | Wounded Private, 1357, 29th Infantry Battalion, Breaching the Hindenburg Line - Cambrai / St Quentin Canal, Francis Charles Wilkin was sadly Killed In Action, during a battle for the Hindenburg line, at St. Quentin Canal, France. |
Help us honour Francis Charles Wilkin's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Horizon Christian School
Francis Charles Wilkin
Nok: [Father] Mr Elijah Wilkin
On July 7 1915, twenty-two-year-old Infantryman, Pte. Francis Charles Wilkin enlisted in the Australian Imperial Forces. When Wilkin enlisted in the AIF he was assigned to the Light Horse Reserve Regiment as of March 1916, almost a year after his official enlistment. Francis over his period of service had seen no bounds of strife, and some would say he would have been better off staying home as Wilkin had been illegally absent from service over the course of WW1. Due to Wilkin's illegal tendencies he had spent a large part of 1916, most of 1917 and half of 1918 in jail, with multiple escape attempts only adding to his sentences. Francis overall forfeited 548 days of pay and was lawfully exempt from service a meer two times due to hospitalisation; once only a few days after being assigned to the Light Horse Reserve Regiment and again in September of the same year after contracting an infection. Francis was transferred to the 29th Infantry Battalion, who were fighting on the Western Front. Sadly, Francis Charles Wilkin perished while fighting with the 29th Battalion in France, on September 30 1918, during an assault on the Hindenburg line, across the top of the 6-kilometre-long St Quentin Canal tunnel; only 4 days before Australian troops were withdrawn from the front.
Click images to start slideshow.