LE FEVRE, Stanley
| Service Number: | 781 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 29 September 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 39th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Pyengana, Tasmania, Australia, 23 November 1896 |
| Home Town: | Pyengana, Break O'Day, Tasmania |
| Schooling: | Pyengana, Tasmania, Australia |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Killed In Action, France, 30 August 1918, aged 21 years |
| Cemetery: |
Hem Farm Military Cemetery, Hem-Monacu. France Plot II, Row D, Grave No. 2 |
| Memorials: | Scottsdale Portland Municipality Including Portion of Lilydale Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 29 Sep 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 781 | |
|---|---|---|
| 27 May 1916: | Involvement 781, 39th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: '' | |
| 27 May 1916: | Embarked 781, 39th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Melbourne | |
| 10 Aug 1918: | Honoured Military Cross, The Battle of Amiens, He was awarded the Military Cross for his gallantry in the advance on the towns of Suzanne and Maricourt, north of the Somme, on 10/11 August. The award was not recommended until 5 September, by which time he had been killed in action on 30 August 1918. | |
| 30 Aug 1918: | Involvement Lieutenant, 39th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: awm_unit: 39th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Lieutenant awm_died_date: 1918-08-30 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Allan Cashion
Stanley was born on the 23rd of November 1896 in Pyengana, Tasmania. He would go to Melbourne for his schooling, becoming a clerk in an agriculture machinery company, where he would work until September 1915, when after falsifying his age from 19 to 24 he would enlist in the Australian Imperial Force.
Beginning his training Ballarat with the 39th Australian Infantry Battalion, Stanley was promoted from Private to Warrant Officer Class 2 within his first year of service, before he and the rest of the 39th were sent to France.
In France he quickly gained a reputation for showing great initiative and conduct, being chosen for Commission to 2nd Lieutenant in October 1916, before being promoted to Lieutenant in January 1917. He would show this initiative and bravery when in May he would go willingly into No man’s land to rescue a wounded comrade after Stanley heard his cries for help. For this action, he would be recommended for the Military Cross.
Although less then a week later, while leading an attack, he would be wounded by a gas shell and spend the next 3 and a half months recovering from it’s effects, before rejoining the 39th.
Throughout 1918, he was again recommended for the Military Cross on at least two occasions, for actions between the 8th and 13th of August and the 26th of August. Capturing a Machine Gun post and a trench with over 30 men inside, with only the help of his NCO, as well as conducting another attack on an outpost while being almost incapacitated by gas. For the latter, he would finally be awarded the Military Cross.
Unfortunately for Stanley, he would not survive to receive it, as only four days after his efforts of the 26th, he and four other men would be killed by a shell while resting before another attack near Clery, France. He was only 21, three years younger then he had claimed to be upon enlistment.
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