COLLINS, Harold David
| Service Number: | 129 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 March 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Sergeant |
| Last Unit: | 21st Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bairnsdale, East Gippsland - Victoria, Australia, 1885 |
| Home Town: | Bairnsdale, East Gippsland, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Bairnsdale District School of Mines, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Metallurgist |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 1 August 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
Serre Road Cemetery No.2 Beaumont Hamel, France XXV G 7, |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bairnsdale Picnic Point Fallen Soldiers Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Mar 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 129, 21st Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 May 1915: | Involvement Private, 129, 24th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: '' | |
| 10 May 1915: | Embarked Private, 129, 24th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ulysses, Melbourne | |
| 1 Aug 1916: | Involvement Sergeant, 129, 21st Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 129 awm_unit: 21st Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Sergeant awm_died_date: 1916-08-01 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of David and Caroline Collins, of Bairnsdale, Victoria.
Of Sergt. Harold Collins, son of Mr and Mrs D. Collins, Picnic Point who was reported to be missing, evidence that is deemed to be conclusive has been received through soldiers' letters that he was among the fallen. It is related that with others, he entered a trench, and immediately he did so some enemy shells burst over the spot, breaking in the sides of the trench and killing and burying those in it. Sergt. Harold Collins graduated at the Bairnsdale School of Mines in metallurgy and afterwards obtained a position as assayer at the Broken Hill works at Port Pirie, South Australia. He advanced rapidly there and then went to the Woolwich radium works at Sydney, where the call of his country became so insistent to him that he could no longer refuse to respond to it. He enlisted in March, 1915, and went through the Gallipoli campaign, remaining until the evacuation. He was one of those on board the ill-fated Southland. He had a good record, never having, been off duty for a single day from sickness or any other cause during the eighteen months he was on service. He was a bright and intelligent young man, with a kindly disposition, and gave promise of rising to a high position, having shown as a student, and, afterwards at Port Pirie and in the radium works at Woolwich marked ability in all matters relating to metalurgy. He was a general favorite with everyone and his death will be greatly deplored as closing a young life that was full of promise. His age was 22 years. Out of respect to his memory the honor roll at the Bairnsdale School of Mines on Monday was draped in mourning
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