Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Victor Still # 2674 9th / 49th Battalion

Victor Still was born in Maryborough to George and Lucy Still. Victor’s father was a school headteacher (Principal) and was in charge of the State School at Boonah during Victor’s young life. Victor served for 4 years in the Senior Cadets and took up an apprenticeship with Queensland Railways as an locomotive fitter at the railway workshops at Ipswich.

Australian newspapers were full of the first reports of the Gallipoli landings in May 1915. Most of the reports were inaccurate and were not based on eyewitness accounts. Nevertheless, enlistments in the AIF surged. Victor presented himself for enlistment in Brisbane on 26th May 1915. He stated his age as 18 years and 1 month. There is no record of his parents providing written permission for him to loin as he was under age 21; it is possible that either of his parents may have accompanied him to the recruiting depot. Once passed fit, Victor reported to Fraser’s Hill Camp at Enoggera where he was allotted as a reinforcement for the 9th Battalion which at that time was engaged in fighting the Turk on Gallipoli.

After a few months of training, the reinforcements boarded the “Kyarra” in Brisbane on 6th August and proceeded to the training camps in Egypt. The next entry in Victor’s file reads simply Lemnos and the date of 15th November. It is likely that Victor had been on Gallipoli from sometime in October but battalion records were destroyed in the lead up to the evacuation in December 1915.

In December of 1915, Victor was treated for a hernia in hospital in Alexandria which he had probably sustained while at Gallipoli. He was not discharged until April of 1916 at which time he was transferred to the 49th Battalion, a newly raised battalion that formed part of the 4th Division AIF.

The 49th Battalion arrived in Marseilles on 12th June 1916 and spent some time in support lines as well as fatigue work in the northern sector of the Western Front around Armentieres. When the Battle of the Somme began in July, the three divisions of the AIF available were eventually engaged in July, August and September in actions around Pozieres and Mouquet Farm.

The 49th Battalion war diary records the battalion occupying the support lines at Tara Hill camp before being deployed to the front line at Pozieres in August. On 14th August, Victor received a slight shrapnel wound to his leg which kept him out of action for three days. On 3rd September, Victor was again wounded but this time it was far more serious. A severe gunshot wound to the back required evacuation to a hospital in England and he was not discharged until November.

Victor spent the first nine months of 1917 in a number of convalescent depots before being posted to an overseas training battalion. He crossed the channel to Havre on 27th September and was finally back with his battalion on 6th October 1917, more than 12 months since his wounding at Mouquet Farm.

Five days after re-joining his battalion, Victor was again in action. Operations in 1917 had shifted from France to Belgian Flanders. The 13th Brigade of the 4th Division was part of an attack at Broodseinde Ridge. On 11th October Victor sustained another wound to his back. A penetrating gun shot wound had damaged his internal organs. Victor was taken to the 47th General Hospital at Le Treport on the French Coast where his condition gradually deteriorated. He died at 5:25am on 29th October and was buried that same day with a flag draped coffin, a bugler and a military chaplain in attendance.

Victor was buried in the Mont Huon Military Cemetery at le Treport.