235148
RUFFIN, Charles Andrew
| Service Numbers: | 263, V82106 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 20 August 1914, 2 years Senior Cadets then Naval Reserve |
| Last Rank: | Major |
| Last Unit: | Lines of Communication Units |
| Born: | Geelong, Victoria, Australia, 20 December 1892 |
| Home Town: | Geelong, Greater Geelong, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Oil engine expert |
| Died: | Illness, Victoria, Australia, 22 August 1944, aged 51 years |
| Cemetery: |
Springvale War Cemetery, Melbourne, Victoria |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Newtown Methodist Church Honor Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 20 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 263, 7th Infantry Battalion, 2 years Senior Cadets then Naval Reserve | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 263, 7th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: '' | |
| 19 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 263, 7th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne | |
| 28 Jan 1916: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 263, 7th Infantry Battalion, Medically unfit after Gallipoli |
World War 2 Service
| 17 Nov 1939: | Enlisted Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Major, V82106 | |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Aug 1944: | Involvement Australian Military Forces (Army WW2), Major, V82106, Lines of Communication Units |
Help us honour Charles Andrew Ruffin's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Robert Kearney
From How We Served
The final resting place for; - 263 & V82106 Major Charles Andrew Ruffin of Geelong, Victoria who prior to his enlisting for War Service on the 28th of August 1914 had been employed as an oil engine expert, and was allocated to the 7th Battalion 1st AIF.
With his Unit, Charles was shipped to Egypt for further training with the First Australian Contingent on the 19th of October, and was with his Battalion when it was committed to the landing on Gallipoli on the morning of the 25th of April 1915.
Charles would get through the immediate first phases of the operations on the Dardanelles, and shortly afterwards as well survived the May fighting at Krithia unscathed.
Charles’s service in the trenches would be continuous until, he was evacuated sick from Gallipoli on the 9th of June. Arriving at Lemnos Island for hospitalization, Charles was deemed to be suffering from rheumatism due to the nature of his previous months of service on Gallipoli.
By the 30th of June Charles had arrived back in Egypt where he was admitted into the 1st Australian General Hospital at Heliopolis. Before he would be transferred to the Australian and New Zealand Convalescent Depot at Helouan on the 6th of July.
Whilst receiving on-going care Charles was boarded as medically unfit for further service due to heart trouble and chronic rheumatism. Charles began his repatriation back to Australia as an invalid, departing Egypt on the 27th of August.
Following Charles’s return from Egypt on the 1st of October, he would require further medical treatment and he was to finally receive his official discharge from the 1st AIF for his re entry into civilian life on the 28th of January 1916.
With the outbreak of a Second World War, Charles would find himself called up for full time military service within Australia, and was appointed an Area Officer on the 16th of November 1939, as part of the Staff of Southern Command.
Seconded for infantry training, Charles was promoted to Captain on the 21st of November 1942, and his service would be ongoing until he was evacuated sick to the 115th Australian General Hospital on the 18th of February 1943.
Following his recovery, Charles was appointed to the Victoria Line of Communication Recruiting Staff in March 1943, with which he would be promoted to Major.
Charles was still serving with this unit when he was again hospitalized at the 115th Australian General Hospital (Heidelberg) due to sickness on the 16th of June 1944, and he was still a patient when he succumbed to illness on the 22nd of August. At the time of his premature death Charles was aged 54.
Following his passing Major Charles Ruffin, an invalided Gallipoli veteran of the ‘Great War’, and who had been called up to serve during a second world conflict, and during which he died whilst again with the Australian Military Forces, was formally laid to rest within Springvale War Cemetery, Victoria.
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