SMITH, Melville Gardiner
| Service Number: | 3928 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 3 August 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 8th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Ballan, Victoria, Australia, 1894 |
| Home Town: | Swan Hill, Swan Hill, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Lake Boga State School, Victoria, Australia |
| Occupation: | Grocer |
| Died: | Killed in action, Pozieres, France, 25 July 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Nyah Memorial Gates, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 3 Aug 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 3928, 8th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Nov 1915: | Involvement Private, 3928, 8th Infantry Battalion, Battle for Pozières , --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
| 23 Nov 1915: | Embarked Private, 3928, 8th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Adelaide |
Help us honour Melville Gardiner Smith's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Melville was born at Ballan, Victoria in 1894 to Melville and Diana Smith. His father passed away when he was only about five years of age. Melville’s widowed mother, Diana, was living at Nyah, Victoria.
His older brother, 246 Pte. Thomas Henry Smith 6th Australian Machine Gun Company was killed in action five months later on 22 November 1916, aged 28.
Melville “Mel” was a grocer and was for working Mr. A.H Chambers, the quality grocer of Swan Hill, when he enlisted in August 1915. He was allocated to the 8th Battalion and arrived in Egypt in early 1916.
Melville spent two months in hospital suffering from mumps before disembarking at Marseilles, France in early April 1916 and joined his unit a month later. It was early during the extremely heavy fighting at Pozieres where Melville was killed in action.
He is listed on the Roll of Honour for Bacchus Marsh, near where he was born and is also listed on the Swan Hill War Memorial as Melville Smith.
Melville’s mum, Diana, passed away during 1939, aged 83, and is buried in Nyah, Victoria.
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