MARTIN, Frank Norman Martin
| Service Number: | 920 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 January 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 21st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, September 1891 |
| Home Town: | Brunswick, Moreland, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Bricklayer |
| Died: | GSW compound skull fracture, 3rd Casualty Clearing Station, Puchevilliers, Departement de la Somme, France, 25 August 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
Puchevillers British Cemetery, France Plot III, Row E, Grave No. 33, Puchevillers British Cemetery, Puchevillers, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, City of Brunswick Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 25 Jan 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 920, 21st Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 26 Jan 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Corporal, 920, 21st Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, D Company - a Battalion 'original' | |
| 10 May 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Corporal, 920, 24th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: '' | |
| 12 Sep 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Corporal, 920, 21st Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli | |
| 2 Mar 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Sergeant, 21st Infantry Battalion | |
| 23 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 920, 21st Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières | |
| 10 Aug 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 920, 21st Infantry Battalion, Mouquet Farm, Died of Wounds 26 August 1916 |
Help us honour Frank Norman Martin Martin's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From Sandra McLeod Martin
My great uncle Sergeant Frank Martin AIF 920, 21st Battalion. Center slouch hat on Gallipoli. He wrote this about his fiancé Olivia on the ship from Alexandria to the Somme after the Gallipoli evacuation. He is killed at Mouquet Farm buried in mud with a rough cross 25.8.1916. In 1917 he is exhumed and reburied at Puchevilliers. His brother Orlando Edwards, 5681, 5 th Battalion name changed after adoption had been Walter Martin had died 6 days earlier at the Windmill and has no known resting place.
I hope part of him was put in the grave of the Australian unknown soldier in Canberra.
Frank on the left Orlando on the right.
Biography contributed by Steve Larkins
920 Sergeant Frank MARTIN (1892-1916)
Frank Martin was born in Abbotsford Victoria in 1892 (date not disclosed) to Artimus and Amelia Edwards MARTIN, of Gipps Street, Abbotsford, Victoria.
His parents died within a few months of each other and aged 3 years and 8 n=months, he was adopted by his Aunt Mrs Agnes Martin of 131 Albert Street, East Brunswick, Victoria (per attestation in service record)
At the time of his enlistment in January 1915, aged 23, he listed his vocation as 'bricklayer' and his next of kin as his Aunt / adoptive mother and only known living relative, Mrs Agnes Martin.
He was allocated to 'D' Company of the 21st Battalion which was to become part of the 6th Brigade in the 2nd Division.
The 2nd Division embarked for the Middle East in late May of 1915. They arrived at Gallipoli just after the unsuccessful August Offensive, relieving the by now exhausted survivors of the 1st Division. By the time the 2nd Division arrived, disease was becoming a bigger threat than the Turks, as sanitation was very poor and the summer heat and flies meant maladies like dysentery and in particular 'Enteric Fever' (typhoid) caused more casualties than enemy fire. Frank was duly afflicted in late November but returned to duty in early December.
Frank and his colleagues manned the front line position throughout, which had not become any more secure since the landings in April. As a form of respite, the men could relax in the rear areas o the Allies' tenuous foothold at ANZAC, and a photo taken in one of these moments is the only image we have of Frank.
The 2nd Division remained in place as the 1st Division was withdrawn to the nearby island of Lemnos in October. The continuation of the campaign was realised by Higher Command to be untenable and plans were made to extract the force back to Egypt for re-deployment to the Western Front. The withdrawal was effected undetected on 19 December 1915, and the entire AIF re-positioned to Egypt where it was re-organised and prepared for service in France. IN Franks case he emabrked with his colleagues from Mudros Harbour in January, on the HMAT Ascanius, headed for Alexandria, the ancient port city at the mouth of the Nile Delta.
The AIF was then transhipped via Marseilles and an extended rail journey up to the French / Belgian border,. There, in what was known as 'The Nursery', they were 'conditioned' to trench warfare in the Armentieres sector. By July they, less the 5th Division which was about to endure the blood bath of Fromelles, were heading south, readying for the second phase of the already bloody Somme offensive.
Frank by now a Sergeant, and his men went in to action around the Windmill at Pozieres in late July. The 2nd Division captured the Windmill feature on 4th August and then held it against relentless counter attacks until relived by the 4th Division. Following its capture, the AIF did an almost perpendicular 'pivot' to the north and attack the flanks of the German redoubt at Thiepval, near Mouquet Farm (known universally to the AIF as 'Moo Cow' Farm.
The fighting was ferocious and unrelenting. It was during the course of action around Mouquet Farm that Frank was wounded on the 24th August 1916. Described as 'GSW" which could mean either 'Gunshot WOnd or General Shrapnel Wound the effect of which was listed as 'compound fracture of the skull'. Frank succumbed to his injuries the following day in No. 3 Casualty Clearing Station, near Puchevilliers further to the west. He is buried in the nearby CWGC cemetery. Puchevilliers is just nort of the regional capital of Amiens.
Steve Larkins Nov 2020
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