SWEET, Frank Lacey
| Service Number: | 7311 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1) |
| Born: | Boonah, Queensland, Australia, date not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Gayndah, North Burnett, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Grazier |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 27 September 1917, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium, Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Boonah War Memorial, Gayndah District Honour Roll, Gayndah War Memorial, Murgon Memorial Wall, Murgon RSL Honour Board, Murgon War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 24 Jan 1917: | Involvement Private, 7311, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '11' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ayrshire embarkation_ship_number: A33 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Jan 1917: | Embarked Private, 7311, 16th Infantry Battalion (WW1), HMAT Ayrshire, Sydney |
Narrative
Frank Lacey Sweet #7311 15th Battalion
Frank Sweet was born in Boonah to parents Frank and Ellen Sweet. There is no recording of Frank’s schooling and it is open to conjecture as to when the family moved to Gayndah.
Frank enlisted in Maryborough on 26th October 1916. He was 24 years old and gave his occupation as grazier. Frank named Miss Mary Anne Marsh of Gayndah as his next of kin. Mary Ann and Frank were engaged to be married and between his enlistment and departure for overseas, the couple did in fact marry.
Frank was drafted as part of the 24th reinforcements for the 15th Battalion and embarked on the “Ayrshire” in Sydney on 24th January 1917. He landed in Devonport in April of 1917 and spent the next three months in a training camp at Codford before sailing from Southampton for France and finally to Belgium. Soon after joining his battalion near Messines, Frank had his first taste of the front when the 15th relieved a sister battalion in the front line.
The 15th Battalion spent several weeks at the end of August 1917 in rest areas where the men enjoyed the baths at Neuve Eglise before moving on to the shooting ranges at Predefin in preparation for going back into action.
On 27th and 28th of September, the 15th along with two other battalions from the 4th Brigade successfully attacked and held German positions at Zonnebeke just to the east of Ypres; however casualties were significant. Frank Sweet was listed as Killed in Action.
There is no record of a burial and no trace of Frank was found at the end of hostilities. Frank’s widow, Mary Anne, was granted a widow’s pension of 52 pounds per year, but the payments would have ceased once she remarried. When medals were being distributed, Mary Anne under her new surname could no be traced. Frank’s mother eventually took possession of the medals in trust, pending a claim from Mary Anne; which according to the records never happened.
Frank Sweet is commemorated on the stone tablets of the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres. He is listed alongside 50,000 soldiers of British Empire who perished in Flanders and have no known grave. The citizens of Ypres each evening conduct a remembrance ceremony under the arch of the Menin Gate to honour their sacrifice.
Submitted 22 August 2021 by Ian Lang
Biography contributed by Ian Lang
#7311 SWEET Frank Lacey 15th Battalion
Frank Sweet was born in Boonah to parents Frank and Ellen. At some stage, the family moved to Gayndah where by late 1916, Frank was farming in the district.
He reported to the recruiting office in Maryborough on 26th October 1916. This date is not insignificant as two days later, the first conscription referendum was held. Conscription was a highly emotive subject in Australia at that time and young men such as Frank often chose to enlist, rather than be conscripted and thus be branded as a second-rate soldier. At 24 years of age and single, Frank would have been a certainty for call-up if the proposal was passed.
When asked by the recruiting officer “Are you Married?”, Frank’s response was “No.” It would seem that he was actually engaged and the answer to the question was altered on the attestation papers once he married Mary Ann Sweet (nee Marsh) about December 1916.
Frank reported to the 11th depot Battalion at Enoggera before being allocated to the 24th reinforcements of the 15th Battalion. During a period of home leave, Frank probably married Mary Ann and made out a will naming her his sole beneficiary. The will was witnessed by a bank manager and clerk in Gayndah.
On 24th January 1917, Frank and the rest of the reinforcements boarded the “Ayrshire” in Sydney. The embarkation roll shows that Frank had allocated 4/- of his 5/- a day pay to Mary Ann whose address was given as “Bon Accord”, Gayndah. The reinforcements landed at Devonport on 12th April, having sailed via Durban, Capetown and Sierra Leone.
The reinforcements, all destined for units in the 4th Division AIF marched into the 4th Division Training Battalion at Codford. After three months training in England, Frank crossed the English Channel to the 4thDiv. base depot at Etaples and then progressed on to his battalion where he was taken on strength on 4thAugust 1917.
The 4th Division brigades had been involved in the opening battle of the Ypres campaign in Belgium when 19 underground mines were exploded under the Messines Ridge. Once the ridge was secure, the 4th Division was withdrawn to rest, re-equip and take on reinforcements. The main thrust of the Ypres Campaign was an advance along the Menin Road commencing at the Ypres ramparts and continuing roughly eastwards towards the village of Passchendaele.
Brigades from the 1st and 2nd Australian Divisions succeeded in capturing the ridge line to the north of the Menin Road on 20th September 1917 and this success was followed up immediately with an attack by brigades from the 4th and 5th Divisions towards a prominent wooded area known as Polygon Wood. The men of the 15th Battalion rose up from the tapes at 5:30am on 26th September and followed the protective creeping artillery barrage towards the objective, which was taken easily by midday. The 15th continued to hold the new line into the following day.
It was reported that Frank Sweet, acting as a stretcher bearer, was killed in action on 27th September. The battalion lost 14 killed and 130 wounded in this action. There is no record of Frank’s remains being buried, although there was probably a battlefield burial, but due to the incessant German artillery, any burial would have been churned up and grave marker lost.
Mary Ann was granted a widow’s pension of two pounds per fortnight and she received a package of Frank’s personal effects. When medals were being issued to the family of those killed, Mary Ann could not be traced. According to some correspondence, she had remarried and left the district. Notices in newspapers failed to locate her (once remarried, she was no longer eligible for a widow’s pension) and it fell to Frank’s sister Ellen to inform the authorities of Mary Ann and to suggest that Frank’s mother should be granted the medals. This was agreed to on the proviso that she relinquish her claim should Mary Ann make a claim. Ellen Sweet provided a statutory declaration to that effect.
Frank’s parents moved to Caboolture in 1926 where they continued to write to the authorities about any news of their son. When the British Government built the Menin Gate Memorial at the western gate of Ypres, it contained the names of 54,000 British and Dominion Troops who gave their lives in Belgium and have no known grave. Frank Sweet is one of those listed there. To honour this sacrifice the citizens of Ypres have commemorated those men with a ceremony held each evening under the arches of the memorial which concludes with the laying of wreathes, the recitation of the Ode and playing of the last post.