Richard Francis SMALES

Richard Francis SMALES Update Details

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SMALES, Richard Francis

Service Numbers:	2802, 2802A
Enlisted:	16 August 1915
Last Rank:	Lance Corporal
Last Unit:	51st Infantry Battalion (WW1)
Born:	Albany, Western Australia, Australia, 13 May 1895
Home Town:	Fremantle, Fremantle, Western Australia
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Gardener
Died:	Killed in action, Mouquet Farm, France, 3 September 1916, aged 21 years
Cemetery:	Serre Road Cemetery No.2 Beaumont Hamel, France Plot XIII, Row L, Grave No. 1. FOR AUSTRALIA AND KING
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Clarkson ANZAC Garden of Remembrance, Kings Park Western Australia State War Memorial, Wanneroo War Memorial

World War 1 Service

16 Aug 1915:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2802, 28th Infantry Battalion
2 Nov 1915:	Involvement Private, 2802, 28th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: ''
2 Nov 1915:	Embarked Private, 2802, 28th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ulysses, Fremantle
3 Sep 1916:	Involvement Lance Corporal, 2802A, 51st Infantry Battalion (WW1), Battle for Pozières , --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2802A awm_unit: 51 Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1916-09-03

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Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks

Richard ‘Dick’ Smales was just over twenty years of age when he enlisted in 1915. He was finely built, six feet in height and twelve stone in weight, fair haired and blue eyed. He was the only son of Thomas and Elizabeth Smales.

He was transferred to the 51st Battalion during the reorganisation of the AIF during early 1916. His father made reference in his service file that he joined up with his great mate, Bill Cockman, both lads being from Wanneroo, Western Australia. They stuck together; both being reported missing with the 51st Battalion during the desperate fighting at Mouquet Farm on 3 September 1916.

Dick Smales’s remains were discovered in 1927, 11 years after he went missing, by the Imperial War Graves Commission, and confirmed by the presence of his identity disc.

The identity disc was returned to his parents in 1928, but Smales’s mother had passed away in 1925 and his father was 80 years of age. No reply is recorded in his service file.

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