STICKELS, Reginald
| Service Number: | 38390 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 October 1917 |
| Last Rank: | Gunner |
| Last Unit: | Field Artillery Brigades |
| Born: | Kensington, New South Wales, Australia, 25 October 1896 |
| Home Town: | Richmond (NSW), Hawkesbury, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Wagga Wagga PS and Sydney Technical High School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Student – WA College, Richmond |
| Died: | Nelson Bay, New South Wales, Australia, 27 February 1969, aged 72 years, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Sydney Technical High School WW1 Roll Of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 25 Oct 1917: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Driver, 38390, Field Artillery Brigades | |
|---|---|---|
| 16 Nov 1917: | Involvement Gunner, 38390, Field Artillery Brigades, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '4' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: SS Canberra embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 16 Nov 1917: | Embarked Gunner, 38390, Field Artillery Brigades, SS Canberra, Sydney |
Help us honour Reginald Stickels's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Sydney Technical High School
Born on 25th October 1896 in Kensington, New South Wales, Stickels grew up in a Methodist Protestant Christian family, the son of Owen Stickels and Catherine Stickels. He spent his early life in Inverell with his younger sister, Hilda Clarise, born five years after he was born. Stickels attended Wagga Wagga Public School, and later to Sydney Technical High School where he was dux of his class as written in the Sydney Morning Herald prize lists. He then later pursued further study at Hawkesbury College.
Stickels' embarked from Sydney 16 November 1917. He disembarked at Suez and then moved on to England in late Jnauary 1918. He became ill with mumps on 22nd February and was hospitalised. He recovered and returned to the Reserve Brigade Australian Artillery in Heytesbury until embarking to France in May 1918. He marched in to the Australian General Base Depot and was taken on strength. He was transferred to the Australian Field Artillery Brigade 20 November after the armistice and remained in France until July 1919 when he was granted leave to attend an agricultural college in Aberdeen.
On 6 September 1919, Stickels arrived back in Australia. On the 2nd of June 1926, he married Freda Emily Maidens in a ceremony at St Augustine's Church, Inverell, and they had three children, Shirley Elizabeth (1927), Margaret Joan (1932), and Geoffrey Bruce (1935) (Ancestry.com 2024). As with many First World War veterans, he encountered personal and economic hardship in the interwar years, including a conflict in the early 1930s over tobacco seedlings, which was reflective of the precariousness of rural livelihoods during the Depression (Sydney Morning Herald 1933). Despite these harsh challenges, Stickels continued to reside in Inverell, Gwydir, where he lived with his family. In 1958, tragically, his son Geoffrey passed away in January, followed by that of his wife Freda in July (NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages 1958).
Stickels also served in the Second World War, enlisting on 28 February 1942 as a lieutenant, where he commanded a platoon until being discharged on 14 December 1945 (National Archives of Australia). Stickels died at Nelson Bay on 27 February 1969, a conclusion to a life which had been marked by service in two world wars, great personal sacrifice, and continuing family obligations.
Bibliography:
Born on 25 October 1896 at Kensington, New South Wales, from Owen Stickels and Catherine Roberts, brought up in Inverell with his younger sister Hilda.
Attended Wagga Wagga Public School and Sydney Technical High School, where he was dux, then later studied at Hawkesbury College.
Lost his mother in 1916, a personal tragedy early in his life.
Enlisted on 25 October 1917, his 21st birthday, and was a gunner with the Third Field Artillery Brigade on the Western Front.
Confronted the major battles of 1918 like the German Spring Offensive, Villers-Bretonneux, Hamel, Amiens, Mont St. Quentin, and the St. Quentin Canal.
Demobilised in Australia on 6 September 1919 and awarded the Victory Medal.
Married Freda Emily Maidens in 1926 and had three children, Shirley, Margaret, and Geoffrey.
Experienced economic hardship in the 1930s, including a dispute about tobacco seedlings, during the Depression era.
Returned to service in WWII (1942–1945) as a lieutenant and commanded a platoon.
Experienced family tragedy with the death of his son Geoffrey and wife Freda in 1958.
Passed away on 27 February 1969 at Nelson Bay, aged 72, after a life of dedication, perseverance, and sacrifice.
Endnotes:
Australian War Memorial
Google drive
1913 Intermediate certificate
1933 tobacco court case
1913 and 1914 term 1 class results
1926 wedding certificate
1911 school dux Wagga Wagga PS
WW2 Department of Veterans’ Affairs
National Archives of Australia
Bean C (1941) Official History of Australia in the war of 1914-1918
Prior R and Wilson (2005) Command on the Western Front The Somme - Robin Prior, Trevor Wilson - Google Books
Pratten G (2016)
The full biography with amendments: