FASHAM, Charles Stanley
| Service Number: | 4494 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 12 October 1915, Bendigo, Victoria |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 6th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Bendigo, Victoria, February 1890 |
| Home Town: | Bendigo, Greater Bendigo, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Miner |
| Memorials: | Bendigo Federated Mining Employees Association No. 1 Bendigo Branch Honor Roll, Bendigo Great War Roll of Honor, Bendigo White Hills Arch of Triumph, North Bendigo State School No 1267 Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 12 Oct 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4494, Bendigo, Victoria | |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Jan 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4494, 6th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Themistocles embarkation_ship_number: A32 public_note: '' | |
| 28 Jan 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4494, 6th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Themistocles, Melbourne | |
| 21 Aug 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 4494, 6th Infantry Battalion, Discharged from AIF |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Jack Coyne
Pte Charles Stanley Fasham 4494
Charles Stanley Fasham from White Hills enlisted with the AIF Expeditionary Force joining on October 12, 1915.
He was 25 years of age and listed his occupation as a Miner. Charles listed his wife Annie as his NOK ‘Next of kin’.They had been married two years earlier at Sacred Heart Cathedral in Bendigo. Charles listed his occupation as a miner.
Charles had an elder brother Alfred who had enlisted earlier that year in June. Alfred was with the Bendigo regiment the 38th Battalion.His father was John Fasham, also a miner at the Great Extended Hustler mine in Bendigo however sadly he passed away in April 1916 while both boys were away in Europe at war. Their mother was Mary Ann and they lived on St.Killians Rd, on a property behind the White Hills Cemetery.
On the day that Charles signs up he is enlisted in the 14th reinforcements for the AIF 6th battalion. The 6th Battalion was recruited from Victoria, drawing largely from Melbourne and the surrounding suburbs to the north. The battalion would be in need of recruits from Bendigo and district as it had earlier taken part in the landing at Anzac Cove in April and had suffered great loss and was now digging in on the cliffs of the Gallipoli peninsula.
Charles would embark from Port Melbourne on HMAT Themistocles on February 28, 1916 landing in Alexandria, Egypt in late March. Here he would see the remnants of the 6th Battalion that had been evacuated from Gallipoli beaches in December 1915.
After a month in Egypt, another sea journey on H T Transylvania would have Charles disembarking in Marseilles, Southern France on April 6, 1916. From this southern port city of France he and the 6th battalion would commence a long slow train journey through the heart of France, arriving at the AIF depot at Estaples in Northern France.
On arriving Northern France, Charles would be taken into Machine Gun School on arrival at the First Australian Division Base Depot.
He would join his unit on August 10 towards the end of battalion’s first major action in France, which was at Pozieres.
The Australian official historian Charles Bean wrote that Pozières ridge "is more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on earth." The Australians had suffered as many losses in the Battle for Pozières in six weeks as they had in the Gallipoli Campaign.
He would spend a good deal of time in hospital from September through till the end of the 1917 year. He would rejoin his unit in January 1918
After Pozieres, the 6th battalion marched towards Albert in the Somme Valley were the battalion took part in a number of battles to retake territory lost to the Germans.
In March and April 1918, the battalion took part in the defensive actions in response to the German spring offensive, before subsequently taking part in the Allied Hundred Days Offensive, launched near Amiens on 8 August 1918.
Charles and the 6th Battalion joined the advance the following day, striking out from Villers-Bretonneux and taking part in the capture of Lihons. The battalion continued operations to late September 1918, taking part in the advance towards Herleville, but was then withdrawn from the line for rest and reorganisation and did not see any further combat. In November, the members of the 6th battalion began being repatriated back to Australia as the demobilisation process began.
On March 5, 1919 Charles would sail for the UK and await transfer back to Australia at AGBD Australian General Base Depot at Heytesbury camp on the Salisbury Plains in Southern England.
He would return to Australia with his older brother Alfred on board H T Soudan arriving in Devonport, Tasmania on June 29, 1919. He would be discharged from the army August 21, 1919.
Private Charles Stanley Fasham is remembered by the people of White Hills. The names of the local lads who sacrificed their lives and those that were fortunate to return from the Great War are shown on the embossed copper plaques on the White Hills Arch of Triumph, at the entrance to the Botanic Gardens.
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