KOHLMANN, Martin Frederick William
| Service Number: | 2554 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 14th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Richmond, Victoria, Australia, 1882 |
| Home Town: | Canterbury, Boroondara, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Engine Driver |
| Died: | Wounds, Belgium, 16 October 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Lijssenthoek, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 15 Sep 1915: | Involvement Private, 2554, 14th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: SS Makarini embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 15 Sep 1915: | Embarked Private, 2554, 14th Infantry Battalion, SS Makarini, Melbourne | |
| 16 Oct 1917: | Wounded AIF WW1, Sergeant, 2554, 1st Passchendaele, Died from schrapnel wounds to the right arm and right thigh the same day. |
Help us honour Martin Frederick William Kohlmann's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Linda Neate
Martin achieved his Engine Drivers 2nd-Class Factory Certificate in October, 1903, and married Jessie Hume on 23 March, 1905. Twin boys were born to them in Hawthorn on 24 May, 1906. By 1914, the family home was in Mont Albert Road, Canterbury.
Martin's enlistment on 18 March, 1915, subsequent posting to Gallipoli and promotion to Acting Sergeant must have inspired Jessie's brother Alexander to join up. With two men now to worry about, reading through the newspaper casualty listings must have provided many anxious moments.
It may have sounded exotic to receive postcards from the other side of the world, but the effects of military activity indicated otherwise - for Martin, long weeks of illness, influenza, a hernia and finally dying from shrapnel wounds in the mud and slush of heavily bombarded shell holes on 16 October, 1917. The casualty list for the 13 to 16 October was noted for not being "numerous" but the "quality" of some of those killed made the losses serious for the Battalion.
More serious, though, for Jessie was financial security, and she was granted a pension on behalf of herself and her two sons.
The heart-breaking inscription on Martin's memorial gravestone at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery reads "TO LIVE IN HEARTS WE LEAVE BEHIND IS NOT TO DIE EVER REMEMBERED".