Clarence Grizzwell (Gezzwell) COLE

COLE, Clarence Grizzwell

Service Numbers: 4393, V16882
Enlisted: 16 July 1917
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: Land Headquarters South West Pacific Area (SWPA)
Born: Grimsby, England, 26 November 1895
Home Town: Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Wine waiter
Died: Illness, Australia, 19 May 1944, aged 48 years
Cemetery: Springvale War Cemetery, Melbourne, Victoria
Springvale War Cemetery, Springvale, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
Show Relationships

World War 1 Service

29 Mar 1916: Embarked Private, 4393, 21st Infantry Battalion, RMS Orontes, Melbourne
29 Mar 1916: Involvement Private, 4393, 21st Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '13' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Orontes embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: ''
3 May 1917: Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 4393, 21st Infantry Battalion, Bullecourt (Second), GSW to head and neck
16 Jul 1917: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4393, 21st Infantry Battalion
5 Feb 1918: Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 4393, 21st Infantry Battalion, 3d MD, medically unfit

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939: Involvement Private, V16882
30 Jun 1941: Involvement Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, V16882, Land Headquarters South West Pacific Area (SWPA)
30 Jun 1941: Enlisted Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, V16882, Land Headquarters South West Pacific Area (SWPA)
19 May 1944: Involvement Australian Military Forces (WW2) , Private, V16882, Land Headquarters South West Pacific Area (SWPA)

Help us honour Clarence Grizzwell Cole's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Evan Evans

From How We Served
 
The final resting place for; - 4393 & V16882 Private Clarence Grizzwell (aka Gezzwell) Cole of Melbourne and East Preston, Victoria had been employed as a wine waiter when he enlisted for War Service on the 16th of July 1915, and was allocated to reinforcements for the 21st Battalion 1st AIF.

Clarence was embarked for Egypt and further training on the 29th of March 1916, and by the 28th of July he was in England being hospitalized for illness. Following his recovery, Clarence was sent over to France, where he disembarked on the 20th of November, and entered the ‘Bull Ring’ at Etaples for his final phase of training, where he was again briefly hospitalized for illness, before joining his Battalion in the trenches on the 26th of January 1917.

Clarence’s service would be again interrupted by sickness, but he would be with his Battalion when it was committed to the Second Battle of Bullecourt, where he was wounded by multiple gunshot wounds to his head and neck on the 3rd of May.

By the 16th of May Clarence had been returned to England and was admitted into the 4th Southern General Hospital for what would be lengthy treatment. Clarence would not be returned to the trenches, as his wounds had caused him partial deafness, which he was being treated for before being repatriated from England to Australia as an invalid, departing for home on the 5th of November 1917.

Following his return to Australia, Clarence would undergo further medical treatment for his wounds received at Bullecourt, before finally receiving his formal discharge from the 1st AIF for his re-entry into civilian life on the 5th of February 1918.

With the outbreak of a second world War. Clarence again presented himself for further service with the Australian Military Forces on the 30th of June 1941, and would be allocated to Home Service. Clarence was taken on strength with the 115th Australian General Hospital (Heidelberg), and would later go on to serve with Army Land Headquarters 3rd Military District.

Again, Clarence’s war service would be affected by periods of sickness, and on the 19th of June 1944, whilst under treatment at the 115th Australian General Hospital, Clarence succumbed to illness, passing on the 16th of May 1944. He was aged 50.

Following his death whilst serving in a second war, Private Clarence Cole, a veteran of the ‘Great War’ was formally laid to rest within Springvale War Cemetery, Victoria

Read more...