STEEL, Norman Percy
| Service Number: | 3394 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 8 January 1917 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 40th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Goshen, Tasmania, Australia, 4 October 1898 |
| Home Town: | Goulds Country, Break O'Day, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Student |
| Died: | Killed in action, France, 28 March 1918, aged 19 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Scottsdale Portland Municipality Including Portion of Lilydale Roll of Honour, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 8 Jan 1917: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3394, 40th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 14 Jun 1917: | Involvement Private, 3394, 40th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: '' | |
| 14 Jun 1917: | Embarked Private, 3394, 40th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Sydney |
Help us honour Norman Percy Steel's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Norman was one of four brothers from Tasmania to serve in WW1 as well as his father who also enlisted during 1915.
His dad, P.W. Steel, was 51 years of age when he joined a remount unit in Egypt. Another brother, 1244 Pte. Gordon Malcolm Steel 15th Battalion AIF, died at Gallipoli during the August 1915 battles, aged 23.
Another brother 19648 Stewart John Steel served with the 15th Field Ambulance and returned to Australia in mid-1919.
A fourth brother Allan Steel enlisted in the Royal Australian Navy during March 1915, at age fourteen.
An unusual aspect of Norman Percy Steel’s death was that it was recorded in his service records that he was ‘killed accidently’ but there are no other details. Also, he now has no known grave. In his service file is a letter to his parents dated 2 October 1919 which states that he was buried at a spot above the Heilly Station, 1500 yards due east of Mericourt L’Abbe in France. During 1922 they were informed that his grave could not be discovered.
His father noted on his roll of honour form, “He volunteered, when of age, to take his brother’s place, who was killed in action in 1916.”