GARTRELL, Albert Reginald Stanley
| Service Number: | Commissioned Officer |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 23 September 1914, Previous service in the Militia for 14 years (South Australian and Commonwealth). Was CO, 28th Engineers, Citizen Military Forces, at time of his AIF enlistment. |
| Last Rank: | Major |
| Last Unit: | 3rd Light Horse Brigade Signal Troop |
| Born: | Aberdeen, South Australia., 10 November 1881 |
| Home Town: | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Printer. |
| Died: | Drowned, Manly, New South Wales, Australia , 26 March 1916, aged 34 years |
| Cemetery: |
West Terrace Cemetery (AIF Section) Row 5, Grave No. 25 |
| Memorials: | Adelaide National War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 23 Sep 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Captain, Commissioned Officer, 3rd Light Horse Brigade Signal Troop, Previous service in the Militia for 14 years (South Australian and Commonwealth). Was CO, 28th Engineers, Citizen Military Forces, at time of his AIF enlistment. | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Feb 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Captain, Commissioned Officer, 3rd Light Horse Brigade Signal Troop, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '6' embarkation_place: '' embarkation_ship: '' embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 7 Aug 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Captain, Commissioned Officer, 3rd Light Horse Brigade Signal Troop, The August Offensive - Lone Pine, Suvla Bay, Sari Bair, The Nek and Hill 60 - Gallipoli, Shot near heart, at the Battle of the Nek, Gallipoli, 7/8/15, contracted Typhoid, taken to Heliopolis Hospital Cairo 13/8/15. On 5/10/15 embarked at Suez on "KANAWNA" for 3 months recuperation leave in Australia. | |
| 26 Mar 1916: | Involvement Major, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: awm_unit: Wireless Squadron awm_rank: Major awm_died_date: 1916-03-26 |
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Major Albert Reginald Stanley GARTELL (1880-1916)
7 August 1915. Very Serious Gunshot wound (chest in close proxinity to his heart at the Battle of the Nek, Gallipoli,
13 Aug 15 - Contracted Typhoid, taken to Heliopolis Hospital Cairo 13/8/15.
5 Aug 15 embarked at Suez on "KANAWNA" for 3 months recuperation leave in Australia.
22/11/15 Disembarked Melbourne.
After some time recuperating at home in Adelaide, he was appointed as chief signalling instructor at Broadmeadows military camp, Melbourne. He was subsequently promoted to Major in charge of the Wireless Division, sent to Sydney on recruiting duties, prior to going to the Western Front in France.
26 Mar 16. While having a last surf at Manly Beach (he was to return by train to Melbourne that night), he heroically helped rescue two girls whose canoe overturned in the surf, but he was still weak from his injury, and died on the beach. Communications were very poor in those days, and my father, his son, remembers his mother turning white with shock at breakfast the next morning, when she first heard of her husband's death on reading an account of it in "The Adelaide Advertiser."
His body was returned to Adelaide by train, and he was given a full military funeral, complete with horse-drawn flag-draped casket, gun carriage, mounted officers, and scores of marching troops. He left a widow, and two young sons.
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