FRYER, Donald Robert
| Service Number: | 73 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 November 1915, 14th Infantry |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 35th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | West Maitland, New South Wales, Australia, 26 August 1895 |
| Home Town: | West Maitland, Maitland, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | West Maitland Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Carpenter |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 12 October 1917, aged 22 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient), West Maitland Superior Public School Honor Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 25 Nov 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 73, 35th Infantry Battalion, 14th Infantry | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 May 1916: | Involvement Private, 73, 35th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '17' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Benalla embarkation_ship_number: A24 public_note: '' | |
| 1 May 1916: | Embarked Private, 73, 35th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Benalla, Sydney | |
| 12 Oct 1917: | Involvement Corporal, 73, 35th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 73 awm_unit: 35th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-10-12 |
Help us honour Donald Robert Fryer's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From Gary Mitchell, Sandgate Cemetery
Let us remember a Fallen soldier of The Great War memorialised at Sandgate Cemetery.
On the 12th October 1917, Corporal Donald Robert Fryer, 35th Battalion (Reg No-73), carpenter from Oakhampton Road, West Maitland, New South Wales, was possibly killed my enemy machine gun fire during the 1st Battle of Passchendaele, age 22.
Born at West Maitland, New South Wales on the 26th August 1895 to Edward Hammond (died 24.5.1940, Newcastle, N.S.W., age 85, buried at ANGLICAN 2-132. 61) from Prince Street, Waratah, New South Wales and Sempill Street, West Maitland, N.S.W. and "Passchendaele", 111 Stewart Avenue, Hamilton South, N.S.W. and 103 Ridge Street, Merewether, N.S.W., and Ada Blanche Fryer nee Partridge (died 10.8.1931, Hamilton, N.S.W., age 63, mother of 7, sleeping at ANGLICAN 2-132. 61) of Prince Street, Waratah, New South Wales and Sempill Street, West Maitland, N.S.W. and "Passchendaele", 111 Stewart Avenue, Hamilton South, N.S.W., Don enlisted on the 28th November 1915 at West Maitland, N.S.W.
Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales on board HMAT A24 Benalla on the 1st May 1916.
Mr. Fryer’s name has been inscribed on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 25), Belgium.
Don’s name has also been inscribed on the West Maitland Soldiers' Memorial, St Mary's Church of England Roll of Honour, Maitland, Maitland & District Municipal Roll of Honor, Book of Gold, West Maitland Superior Public School Honor Roll and The Capt. Clarence Smith Jeffries (V.C.) and Pte. William Matthew Currey (V.C.) Memorial Wall.
I have placed poppies at the memorialised Fryer gravesite in remembrance of the service and supreme sacrifice of their son for God, King & Country. ANGLICAN 2-132. 61.
Many thanks to Valerie Menzies for the family history.
He became a member of the 35th Battalion which was to be decimated in the 1st Battle of Passchendaele.
Don was killed at Broodseinde, opposite Passchendaele Ridge, a few miles from Ypres (Ieper) on the 12th October, 1917. Witnesses reported that Corporal Fryer was killed outright and buried behind the lines. I saw him fall about 300 yards from the hopping off tape.
Don had completed his Carpentry-Building Apprenticeship when, with his close mates, Harold and Ken Ellicott, he enlisted at Broadmeadow Showground on the 28th November, 1915 and embarked on the troopship, "Benalla", which left Sydney on the 1st May, 1916.
While in Sydney he met up with his cousin, Tony Fryer, who had enlisted with the New Zealand forces and who was to die at Gallipoli. He arrived in Plymouth on the 9th July 1916. In England, Don was transferred to the 9th Australian Machine Gun Company.
His mate, Ken Ellicott, wrote to Don's mother: "....I know what it cost me to lose my dearest friend. You know we both made up our minds together to come over here and we were together right up till a few hours before he was killed. ....I never saw Don but he was a brave lad and always did his duty. Ken and myself were wounded the same day. It was a cruel place and although we did the work we had to do, it has cost us very dear."
His father (working in a munitions factory near London at the time) wrote to his youngest child, 6 year old Douglas: "Your brother Don has gone to join another army in Heaven and Christ is his Captain. I hope you will grow up to be a brave man and as ready to do your duty as your brother Don was."
Younger brother Allan Benjamin (born 16.3.1903, West Maitland, New South Wales, from Oakhampton Road, West Maitland, New South Wales, enlisted 9.10.1917, Royal Australian Navy, Reg No-6284, Boy 1 & 2-retired Chief Petty Officer on "Penguin" 31.7.1946, died 9.10.1978, age 75, resting same location.
Younger brother Frederick Charles Hammond (born 20.12.1900, West Maitland, New South Wales, carpenter from Sempill Street, West Maitland, New South Wales, enlisted 22.11.1918, Army Medical Corps, Reg No-N968819, discharged 2.3.1919, died 6.2.1977, Newcastle, N.S.W., age 76) also served 1st A.I.F.
Contact with descendants would be greatly appreciated.
For more detail, see “Forever Remembered“.
http://www.commemoratingwarheroes.com/cemetery-main-search/.
Lest We Forget.
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