COLEMAN, George Frederick
| Service Numbers: | 1904B, 1904 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 16 July 1915, Liverpool, NSW |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 18th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Cooks Hill, New South Wales, Australia, 16 October 1896 |
| Home Town: | Cooks Hill, Newcastle West, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Cooks Hill Superior Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Ironworker |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 20 September 1917, aged 20 years |
| Cemetery: |
Hooge Crater Cemetery, Belgium V L 8 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Cook's Hill Superior Public School , Cooks Hill Life Saving & Surf Club War Memorial, Cooks Hill Lifesaving & Surf Club War Memorial, Cooks Hill St John's Honor Roll, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 16 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1904B, 20th Infantry Battalion, Liverpool, NSW | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Aug 1915: | Involvement Private, 1904, 20th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Runic embarkation_ship_number: A54 public_note: '' | |
| 9 Aug 1915: | Embarked Private, 1904, 20th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Runic, Sydney | |
| 24 Jul 1916: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 1904, 18th Infantry Battalion, Right hand wound | |
| 9 Oct 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 18th Infantry Battalion | |
| 28 Feb 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Corporal, 18th Infantry Battalion | |
| 20 Sep 1917: | Involvement Corporal, 1904B, 18th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1904B awm_unit: 18 Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-09-20 |
Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
No railway employment record card can be located for George COLEMAN, (Service Number 1904B). The 1921 Honour Roll identifies him as working in the Permanent Way Branch of the railways and serving in the 18th Australian Infantry Battalion. The only man who fits this criterion in the military records is George Frederick Coleman, and the 1914 NSW Government Gazette lists a George F Coleman as working in the Newcastle steel shops as a temporary shop boy. In his Attestation Papers signed on 9 July 1915, Coleman shows his calling somewhat presumptuously, as ‘ironworker’.
He had been born at Cooks Hill about December 1896, was just 19-years-old and unmarried.
He was killed in action on 20 September 1917 at Polygon Wood, Ypres. After a two mile advance through the day his unit had taken its objective and was consolidating its position by digging in when Coleman was killed outright by a shell. He was buried nearby.
In the rationalisation of cemeteries and the consolidation of isolated graves after the war Coleman’s remains were exhumed and he was re-interred in Hooge Crater Cemetery, Passchendaele, Belgium.
Submitted 3 June 2023 by John Oakes
Biography contributed by Faithe Jones
LATE CORPORAL G. F. COLEMAN.
Mrs. Coleman, of 9 Tudor-street, Hamilton (late of Cook's Hill), has received a letter from the chaplain of the battalion, referrlng to the death of her son, Corporal G. F. Coleman. After offering the sympathy of the officers and men of the battalion, the chaplain says:--"Your son took part, with the battalion, in the very successful attack upon the Germans in North Belgium, and it was while the position, which had been won, was being consolidated, that your son was hit and killed before anything could be done for him. He had done good work on that day, and had all through proved himself an excellent soldier. He will be much missed in his company. He was buried close to where he fell, and we have arranged to erect a cross to mark his grave."
Biography contributed by John Oakes
George COLEMAN, (Service Number 1904B) worked in the Permanent Way Branch of the railways.
He had been born at Cooks Hill about December 1896.
Coleman left Australia from Sydney aboard HMAT ‘Runic’ on 9th August 1915. He joined the 18th Battalion at Gallipoli on 29th September. He served there until the evacuation in December when he returned to Alexandria (Egypt). He was transferred to the British Expeditionary Force in France via Marseilles in March. George Coleman suffered an injury to his hand in an accident in July. He certified that the accident had occurred in the performance of his military duty and was not his own fault. This was accepted. The injury turned septic and it was the middle of August before he could rejoin the Battalion.
In October he was promoted to Lance Corporal and then to Corporal in February 1917.
George was killed in action on 20th September 1917 at Polygon Wood, Ypres. After a two mile advance through the day his unit had taken its objective and was consolidating its position by digging in when he was killed outright by a shell. He was buried nearby.
In the rationalisation of cemeteries and the consolidation of isolated graves after the war George Coleman’s remains were exhumed and he was re-interred in Hooge Crater Cemetery, Passchendaele, Belgium.
- Based on notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Boar
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