Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Before the War

Clement Douglas Francis (full name) was born sometime around January 1893 and was an only son of Mrs Harriet Francis who was appointed next of kin. At an unknown age, his parents divorced and as he grew older, he became his mother’s sole support, meaning his father was unable to look after them both. He had hazel eyes, brown hair and was below average height as he was 5 feet 5 inches. Clement lived on Queen Street, Solomontown, South Australia. He was single, 22 years old, worked as a fireman and his religious denomination was Church of England. A year after the war broke out Clement enlisted on August 23rd, 1915. Having no previous military service, he was first classified as a private and his service number was 4175. His start to the war had begun when he was assigned to 13th Reinforcements, 10th Battalion.

In Service

To commence his journey in WWI, he was first appointed to 2nd Depot where he was stated to march out of Australia. So on January 11th 1916, he was embarked at Adelaide per his majesty’s Australian transport “A30 Borda”. That very boat was then headed to a training boot camp held in Egypt.

However, after being in the 10th Battalion, on February 29th, 1916, he was identified to be transferred to the 50th Battalion. Then, 3 days later he was finally taken on strength to go to the Battalion’s headquarters in Zeitoun, a training course in Egypt. So on March 11th, he was ready to proceed and join the 50th Battalion. While a few months later, June 6th to be exact, his battalion embarked to join the British Expeditionary Force per ‘Franconia’ to exit Alexandrian, Egypt and to the Western Front.

In the following year of being with the B.E.F, on September 7th, 1917, he was evacuated sick to hospital. His case of illness was not yet determined after 5 days. In order to rest and get back in shape, Clement stayed in the hospital for 28 days, a mear month until rejoining his unit on October 24th. When he came back to his unit, he fought in the trenches of the Western Front. 

In pursuit of fighting in the decisive front, he later committed a small crime. Clement had made a mistake by leaving his vehicle unattended, which was considered to be some sort of action to being absent without leave. So, to pay for this, he was punished with field punishment number 2. His consequences were to be contained in fetters (metal wire around ankles) and handcuffs while still being able to march with his unit. This penalty was not as terrible as field punishment number 1. The consequence of going absent without leave would be immediate field punishment number 1. This was when a soldier was tied up with fetters and handcuffs, same with number 2, but tied up against a crucifix board. The soldier would have to stay in that position for 21 days and sometimes would be applied within the range of enemy fire.

Eventually, Francis was able to carry on in normal conditions for the following year. He then marched out of France and prepared to return to Australia on January 27th,1919. At this time, the harsh war was coming to an end and Clement was ready to embark. 

After the War

After all the major events during the war, it all came to an end in 1918. On May 16th, 1919 he returned to Australia per ‘Armagh’ where he was disembarked to go to 4.M.D (4th military district) his home state, South Australia. With his fate being returning to Australia, he had minimal injuries and recovered from his illnesses. Clement went on with his life back in Solomontown as a Fireman, single and continued to take care of his mother. It is unknown when he died.