LOGAN, Ernest Richard William Michael
| Service Number: | 4591 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 22nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Footscray, Victoria, Australia, 26 January 1897 |
| Home Town: | Footscray, Maribyrnong, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Tanner |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 5 August 1916, aged 19 years |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Nar Nar Goon Barnet Glass Rubber Company Honour Roll, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 29 Mar 1916: | Involvement Private, 4591, 22nd Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Orontes embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Mar 1916: | Embarked Private, 4591, 22nd Infantry Battalion, RMS Orontes, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by karryn Smith
Ernest was actually registered as Richard Michael Logan on his birth certificate. He was the youngest of 10 children of Michael Logan and Jane Saxby. His father Micheal Logan died when Ernest was only 3 years old and his mother Jane died in 1918, two years after he died. Information passed down indicates that Jane signed permission for Ernest to enlist believing that because of his poor eyesight he would not be accepted but he passed his medical and enlisted into the AIF.
Ernest was a Tanner by trade, working for the Barnett Glass Company. His father had also been a Tanner.
Records indicate that he was charged for desertion even before his embarkation. This seems to be a misunderstanding and not actually desertion for all other details about him indicated that Ernest was keen and willing to fight for his country. Ernest had contracted the flu and was sick with this on the day he was to report for duty. His mother Jane went to the authorities to report his illness and was told he was to report once he had recovered (which he did). During his disciplinary action it was revealed that Ernest should have reported to the army medical personnel but according to statements his mother was not told this and subsequently Ernest was charged with desertion. He embarked on a later ship once he had recovered from influenza.
On his death, believed to have been at one of the bloodiest battles of the war, his mother was notified. Because his mother died two years after his death his medals were issued to his sister Edith Jane King nee Logan. These seem to have been issued under a falsehood by Edith. Edith was in fact not the elder child of Michael and Jane. That was Catherine who was very much alive at the time. Edith instead claimed the medals herself which should have gone to the eldest sibling Catherine Juegan nee Logan.
Ernest seems to have had a sweetheart back home as she wrote to the Defence Department when she had not heard from him for some time.
Investigations have revealed that the descendants of Edith have never seen nor heard about Ernest's medals, but being a family where children were estranged from their parents this is not surprising. As a result the whereabouts of Ernest's medals is unknown.
Ernest is my great uncle, being the youngest sibling to my paternal grandmother Mabel Bertha Smith nee Logan.
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