William Alexander GRONBECK

William Alexander GRONBECK Update Details

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GRONBECK, William Alexander

Service Number:	4539
Enlisted:	5 September 1916
Last Rank:	Private
Last Unit:	39th Infantry Battalion
Born:	Gorbals, Glasgow, Scotland, 18 August 1881
Home Town:	Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria
Schooling:	Not yet discovered
Occupation:	Winding Master
Died:	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 January 1945, aged 63 years, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery:	Cheltenham Memorial Park, Victoria, Australia
Memorials:

5 Sep 1916:	Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4539, 29th Infantry Battalion
16 Dec 1916:	Involvement Private, 4539, 29th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Medic embarkation_ship_number: A7 public_note: ''
16 Dec 1916:	Embarked Private, 4539, 29th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Medic, Melbourne
12 Oct 1917:	Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 4539, 39th Infantry Battalion, France: Gassed (Mustard Gas)
6 Jun 1918:	Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 4539, 39th Infantry Battalion, France: GSW to head and foot
23 Sep 1918:	Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4539, 39th Infantry Battalion, embarked England for Melbourne on board HT Runic

Biography contributed by Chris Buckley

Private William Alexander Gronbeck (Service No:4539) enlisted in the AIF on 5 September 1916 and was attached to 29th Infantry Battalion on 16 December 1916 when he embarked with his Unit from Melbourne for Plymouth on board HMAT A7 Medic. Private Richardson served in France with 29th and 39th Infantry Battalions and was WiA on two occasions, and evacuated to hospital in England - in 1917 he was Gassed with Mustard Gas and in 1918 he suffered GSWs to the head and foot. Private Richardson embarked from England for Melbourne on 23 September 1918 on board HT Runic and was attached to 39th Infantry Battalion at Discharge on 30 May 1919.

William was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1881, youngest of seven children of Peter Mortensen Gronbeck (b1822 in Bornholm, Denmark) and Isabella (Isa) Dow (b1838 in Glasford, Scotland). Peter was a Seaman in 1866 when he and Isa married in Glasgow, where they settled and raised their family and Peter worked as a Seaman.

William worked as a Yarn Spinner in Glasgow, where in 1904 he married Marion Johnstone (b1882 in Glasgow, Scotland). By 1912 William and Marion had immigrated to Melbourne with their two eldest surviving children and settled in Collingwood, where William was a Winding Master in the Woollen Mill. Following his Discharge from the Army in 1919, he and Marion settled in Melbourne where they raised their family and William worked as a Mechanic's Appreentice and then Mechanic. William died in 1945 and Marion in 1952.

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