Richard Curnow HOLDEN MM

Richard Curnow HOLDEN MM Update Details

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HOLDEN, Richard Curnow

Service Number:	3970
Enlisted:	20 July 1915
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	12th Infantry Battalion
Born:	Kiata, Victoria, Australia, 1 November 1890
Home Town:	Irish Town, Circular Head, Tasmania
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Labourer
Died:	Queensland, Australia, 26 November 1959, aged 69 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	Mount Thompson Memorial Gardens & Crematorium, Queensland
Memorials:

World War 1 Service

20 Jul 1915:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3970, 12th Infantry Battalion
24 Nov 1915:	Involvement Private, 3970, 12th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Orontes embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: ''
24 Nov 1915:	Embarked Private, 3970, 12th Infantry Battalion, RMS Orontes, Melbourne

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Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks

Richard Holden enlisted the same day as his brother, Robert Holden. They were given consecutive regimental numbers 3970 and 3971. They both arrived in Egypt during early 1916 and transferred to the 52nd Battalion during the reorganisation of the AIF.

In March 1916, the local newspaper reported that Mr. and Mrs. R. Holden, of Irishtown, Tasmania, had received letters from their two sons in Egypt. They were both well, but did not like the sandy deserts as well as Tasmania.

Richard was wounded during the heaviest of fighting at Mouquet Farm on 3 September 1916, and his younger brother 3971 Pte. Robert Stirzaker Holden 52nd Battalion AIF was reported missing the next day. Richard was evacuated to England with a gunshot wound to the shoulder.

He returned to France early in 1917 and was given the battered paybook of his missing brother by a Chaplain Blackwood who had found it near Mouquet Farm.

Richard was promoted to Lance Corporal and awarded a Military Medal for bravery at Bullecourt by rescuing wounded men under fire.

During the Messines battle on 7 June 1917 Richard received a gunshot wound to his right leg which turned out to be a ‘Blighty One’. Evacuated to England he was returned to Australia medically unfit during February 1918.

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