Clifford Cyril PHISTER

PHISTER , Clifford Cyril

Service Number: 4865
Enlisted: 10 September 1915
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 47th Infantry Battalion
Born: Ipswich, Queensland, Australia , 27 March 1896
Home Town: Ipswich, Queensland
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Locomotive Cleaner
Died: Shot by a German Guard while a POW, POW Camp - Landrecies, France , 9 October 1918, aged 22 years
Cemetery: Landrecies Communal Cemetery
France - Grave I, amongst Civilians,
Memorials: Amberley Honour Stone, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Booval War Memorial, Ipswich Branch Engine Drivers, Firemen & Cleaners Association Roll of Honour, Ipswich Soldier's Memorial Hall Great War
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World War 1 Service

10 Sep 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4865, 9th Infantry Battalion
28 Mar 1916: Involvement Private, 4865, 9th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Commonwealth embarkation_ship_number: A73 public_note: ''
28 Mar 1916: Embarked Private, 4865, 9th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Commonwealth, Brisbane
5 Apr 1918: Imprisoned From Statement made by No 4828 Pte Kelly S (Repatriated POW) 'At Landrecies, Pte Phister CC 47th Btn was shot by a guard walking up the Lager steps. There was no apparent justification for the act'
9 Oct 1918: Involvement Private, 4865, 47th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 4865 awm_unit: 47th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1918-10-09

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Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Clifford was the youngest of four children of James Morrison Phister (born 1862 at Three Mile Creek, Ipswich, QLD) and Mary Ann Noonan (born 1869 at Mutdapilly, QLD). James was a Labourer in 1888 when he married Mary Ann (who at fifteen years of age had been  'found wandering about the streets in no ostensible lawful occupation' and sentenced in Biloela, QLD to Industrial Training School at a cost of 2/6 per week paid by her father). They settled in Ipswich, QLD where James worked as a Labourer and in 1897 Mary Ann left her husband 'owing to his violence and abuse' and applied for a Protection Order (Ipswich Herald Thursday 1 April 1897 p4). James moved to Myall Plains at St George in QLD where he worked as a Labourer until moving back to Ipswich in 1913 and then to Pittsworth on the Darling Downs.

Clifford was a Locomotive Cleaner in Ipswich, QLD when he enlisted in the AIF in September 1915. He served as a Private (Service No:4865) with 9th Infantry Battalion 15th Reinforcements, 31st and 47th Infantry Battalions and on 5 April 1918 was reported Missing in Action, then as Killed in Action before being identifed as a German PoW at Gustrow, Mecklinberg in Germany. Clifford was shot by a German soldier on the steps as he was returning to his barracks. In a letter home, dated 17 June 1918, Clifford writes 'I am now a Prisoner of War as you can see and doing all right up to the present. I suppose you all thought old snowy had gone west but thank God I am still alive and kicking and they haven't pulled the blinds down yet so don't worry Stan old boy and you may see me back in old Ipswich some day when dreams come true......... Dear Brother  you don't know what home is until you have a look around the world ....' (National Archives Australia). Clifford was killed in October 1918. 

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