JEFFERS, Roy Ernest
| Service Number: | 4522 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 3 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 6th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Strathbogie, Victoria, Australia, 1894 |
| Home Town: | Camperdown, Corangamite, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Strathbogie State School, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 19 August 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Euroa Strathbogie North Great War Honor Roll, Euroa Telegraph Park, Euroa War Memorial, Strathbogie War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 3 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4522, 6th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 28 Jan 1916: | Involvement Private, 4522, 6th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Themistocles embarkation_ship_number: A32 public_note: '' | |
| 28 Jan 1916: | Embarked Private, 4522, 6th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Themistocles, Melbourne |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Three Jeffers brothers from Camperdown all enlisted in Melbourne on the same day, 3 August 1915. Roy Ernest, Ralph Henry, and William James Jeffers were all assigned to the 6th Battalion AIF and given the consecutive regimental numbers of 4522, 4523 and 4524. A fourth brother 5699 Private George Gordon Jeffers, a married man, enlisted in the 59th Battalion during late 1915.
4522 Private Roy Ernest Jeffers, 6th Battalion was killed in action by a shell at Pozieres on the 18 August, and there was some confusion with his brother R.H. Jeffers about who was killed, as they were serving in the same platoon. Roy, age 22 was eventually reported as killed in action and his remains were found in 1936, along with portions of his identity disc. He was originally listed on the Villers Bretonneux Memorial but his grave is now in the London Cemetery Extension at Longueval in France.
His older brother 4524 Pte. William James Jeffers, 6th Battalion AIF was killed in action during a raid on the 11 November 1916, aged 24.
The surviving brother of the three who enlisted together, Ralph Henry Jeffers was returned to Australia for family reasons during 1917, due to the fact that his two brothers had both been killed.
The fourth brother, George Gordon Jeffers is also listed on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, having taken his own life in Hopetoun, Victoria, before he was ever discharged from the AIF, on 9 August 1919.
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