Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Frank Clifford Choat was a brave soldier who fought in World War 1. He was a part of the ninth battalion of the third brigade who fought at Gallipoli in 1915 as the covering force for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC).

Frank Clifford Choat was born on the 9th of October 1887 in Mount Barker South Australia to Fredrick Choat and Martha Ann Choat. Frank had three brothers and five sisters, his brother’s names were: Fredrick Herbert, James and Kenneth. His sister’s names were Ethel, Bertha, Mary, Olive and Rita. Two of the brothers, Fredrick Herbert Choat and James Henry Choat both went to war as well as Frank but only two of them came back to see their mother. James was killed during the August of 1916 whilst fighting with the 27th Battalion at Pozieres in France. Fredrick on the other hand returned to Australia in the April of 1916. It would have been hard for the mother of the three boys to be left alone for all those years thinking that they probably won’t come back to her. And if they did come back they wouldn’t be the same people that they were when they left.

When Frank left Brisbane in 1914 only months after the declaration of war in August, he sailed to Egypt on board the HMAT Seang Choon A49 where he would meet the 10th, 11th and 12th Battalions who would come together to make the 3rd Brigade. Together, the battalions were made up of people from South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland and Tasmania, all people willing to sacrifice themselves for their country. The brigade trained hard in Egypt for a few months before leaving to fight in the front line at Gallipoli for the ANZAC in the April of 1915. The brigade beached at Gallipoli around 4.30am on the 25th of April for a harsh fight in the front line. Fighting for months before being evacuated in December. This is when Frank went home to see his mother and brother again. I can only imagine how hard it would have been to leave my home, friends and my family to go and help my country. And then arriving on the shores of Gallipoli to be in the front line of one of the most treacherous wars of all time.

Frank's courage will go down in history as war is a very, very dangerous place. To leave your home to go and fight for what you think is right is something to be remembered for. Frank's family is a fitting example of the ANZAC spirit. It is something to be proud of when someone leaves to go to war, but is a whole different thing when all the men in your family go to war. To go to war is an incredibly brave thing and is not for the faint of heart. The Choat family did a very brave thing for their country and they are honoured every year on ANZAC day because of it.

Frank Clifford Choat survived the perils of the First World War despite being severely wound at Gallipoli, however he lost his life heroically as a civilian during World War II in the tragic torpedoing of the child evacuee ship SS City of Benares by the German submarine U-48 in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Born at Mount Barker Springs, South Australia, Frank Choat was the seventh of ten children of the Frederick Choat and Martha Ann (Miller) Choat. He was one of five brothers who fought in the First World War - the others were: 430 Sergeant Frederick Herbert Ray Choat, 3057 Private James Henry Choat [KIA 04.08.1916], 567 Private Percy Roy Choat and 4168 Corporal Kenneth Choat.

As a boy, Frank Choat spent some time in Western Australia before moving to work in Queensland, where in 1910 he took a consignment of horses to India. He enlisted for military service in Queensland and was assigned to the 3rd Reinforcements of the 9th Battalion. Taken on strength at Gallipoli on 7 May 1915. he was greeted with heavy shelling across the battalion's trenches and was involved in the brutal fighting during May that lead to the armistice on May 24 to bury the dead.

In early July, whilst the 9th Battalion was digging saps for bomb throwers, Frank Choat suffered a serious shrapnel wound to his left thigh, fracturing his femur. After initial treatment in Alexandia he was transferred by Hospital Ship 'Karoola' to England in September 1915 for further treatment. 

His war was over - whilst in England he met his futire wife, Sylvia and they fell in love. In August 1916 he was returned to Australia and discharged medically unfit in the following November. Frank Choat recuperated at Mount Barker over the next two years before heading back to England in 1918.

In mid 1919 he married Sylvia Maude Gilbertson (1888-1950) at Crediton, Devon. Sylvia was the daughter of wealthy industrialist William Gilbertson, founder of W. Gilbertson & Co, the Welsh tin plate and steel manufacturer.

Following the birth of their first two children, a daughter and son, the couple migrated to Canada in September 1922 to join Sylvia's sister and brother-in-law at Duncan on Vancouver Island to pursue poutry farming. The couple's third child, a son, was born at Maple Bay on Vancouver Island in 1924.

In 1936 the family returned to England in order to finish the education of the three children.

On Friday, 13 September 1940 the Choak family embarked SS City of Benares at Liverpool, England, bound for Montreal and their return to Canada. There were a total of 408 people on board including 90 Children's Overseas Reception Board children (ages five to fifteen) and their ten escorts (3 men, 7 women). The Choats were amoungst 91 fare-paying passengers. The ships crew was made up of 168 Indian Lascars and 43 British nationals, whilst six representatives of the escorting convoy were also on board.

SS City of Benares was the lead ship (centre column) in convoy OB-213. The convoy had the protection of a destroyer, HMS Winchelsea, accompanied by two corvettes — HMS Gloxinia and HMS Gladiolus. Due to the extremely bad weather the convoy had stopped zigzagging and so became an easier target for enemy U-boats.

Late in the evening of 17 September, SS City of Benares was sighted by U-48, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Bleichrodt, which fired two torpedoes at her at 10:00 pm. Both torpedoes missed, but at 10:01 pm, the U-boat fired another torpedo at her. The torpedo struck City of Benares in the stern at 10:03 pm, causing her to sink within 31 minutes, 253 miles west-southwest of Rockall in the North Atlantic Ocean. 

Fifteen minutes after the torpedo hit, the captain ordered the vessel abandoned, though there were difficulties with lowering the lifeboats on each side of the ship in a wild sea with howling gales. Most of the survivors were adrift for six hours or more before they were rescued, and suffered terrible privations. One lifeboat remained adrift for eight days before being sighted and the 45 occupants rescued. 

The sinking was a catastrophe, with 258 of the 408 people aboard lost. This included the master Captain Landles Nicoll, three convoy staff members, 122 crew members and 134 passengers. Only 13 of the 90 child evacuees and 6 of the 10 paying passenger children survived the sinking.

Apart from Frank Choat, there were two other Australians on board - Melbourne businessman Arthur E. Dowling and nurse Doris Walker from Tenterfield, Both survived the disaster and were heroic in saving others.

The Choat family was in bed when the ship was torpedoed - Frank Choat quickly moved his wife and three children, Russell (16), Peter (18) and Rachel (19) to a life boat. He refused to follow and calmly remained helping others into life boats. He was not seen again.

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_City_of_Benares

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40916612

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132003218