FANKHAUSER, Claude Augustus Leopold
| Service Number: | 1944 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 13 January 1915, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 5th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Vermont, Victoria, 6 July 1895 |
| Home Town: | Vermont, Whitehorse, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Coach painter |
| Died: | Natural causes, Sandringham, Victoria, 19 June 1996, aged 100 years |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Mitcham War Memorial, Shire of Nunawading Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 13 Jan 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1944, Melbourne, Victoria | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Apr 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 1944, 5th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: '' | |
| 17 Apr 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 1944, 5th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne | |
| 25 Jul 1916: | Wounded AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 1944, 5th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , GSW (face) | |
| 21 May 1917: | Discharged AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 1944, 5th Infantry Battalion, Blind in both eyes |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Edwards
Discharged - blind in both eyes, Claude attends St Dunstans (for rehabilitation of blinded soldiers) in England and gains his independence. He returns to Australia and lives to be 100
"THURSDAY 20 JUNE 1996 - THE AGE - Death of Gallipoli veteran blinded on the Somme
One of Australia last Gallipoli veterans, Claude Augustus Leopold Fankhauser, died in Melbourne yesterday. He would have been 101 next month. The secretary of the Victorian RSL, Brigadier John Deighton, described him as a magnificent man. "We were going to get him to lead the Anzac march this year but he wasn't well enough, he said. There are believed to be only nine Gallipoli veterans alive in Victoria and fewer than 30 around the country. Mr Fankhauser was blinded in fighting on the Somme in 1916 but lived alone until recently in Blackburn. He died in a Sandringham nursing home. Mr Fankhauser was born in Melbourne and left school at 14 to work in the family orchard. The first time he tried to enlist he was rejected. He made it the second time, joining D Company of the 5th Battalion. He landed on Gallipoli three days after his 20th birthday and spent nearly six months in the trenches, mainly in Shrapnel Gully and Lone Pine. "It was slaughter," he recalled last year. "1 was one of the wounded. I came face to face with a hand grenade ... I haven't seen since." Fankhauser learnt braille and carpentry while recuperating in England and rowed on the Thames. He married Elsie Littlewood, a nursing aide, who died in 1926. Mr Fankhauser leaves his son, Frank, a grandson, Dr Stephen Fankhauser, and two great grandchildren."
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