Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Frank Bressay Robertson grew up in Mudgee NSW. Born here in May 1895, he was a son of the soil and of the town. His father, Andrew Robertson, was a well-known face in the district, a man who knew agricultural machinery inside out, having managed branches for Massey Harris across the country before settling back into the rhythm of Mudgee life.
Young Frank was just 19 when the world turned upside down. He didn’t rush off in the first mad weeks of August 1914, but by November, the pull of duty was too strong to ignore. He signed his papers, swapped his farming clothes for the rough wool of the AIF, and became Private Robertson, Number 1616 of the 2nd Battalion.
Frank was part of that stoic generation that endured the lot. He arrived in time to see the cliffs of Gallipoli, joining the battalion as a reinforcement when the reality of the campaign had truly set in. He survived the heat, the flies, and the constant sniping of the Peninsula, only to be one of the "lucky" ones who marched down to the piers in the dark of December 1915 to slip away during the evacuation.
But it was the Western Front that would demand the highest price.
By late 1916, Frank was a veteran. He had survived the slaughterhouse of Pozières in July, where the battalion helped capture the German blockhouse and the village was pulverised into pink dust. He had made it through the "Nursery" sector in Armentières. But as the year drew to a close, the battalion found itself in the freezing mud of the Somme winter.
This is where Frank’s story becomes heartbreakingly distinct from the dry ink of official records.
December 1916 was bitter. The trenches near Gueudecourt weren't really trenches anymore; they were just string of flooded shell holes. The battalion war diary tells us that after a hard tour on the front line, the 2nd Battalion was pulled back to a village called Havernas on 23 December for a rest.
You can imagine the relief. The diary entry for Christmas Day, 25 December 1916, paints almost a cosy picture: "Going to have it easy... Leave granted for Amiens. Had a good day, received parcel from Aunt Annie & also card.".
But Frank Robertson wasn't there to open his parcels.
While his mates were enjoying that rare quiet day in Havernas, Frank was lying in a hospital tent at the Heilly Station Casualty Clearing Station, just a few miles away. He had been wounded during those final, freezing days in the line before the relief.
The official records say he "Died of Wounds" on 29 December 1916. He was 21 years old.
War rarely strikes a family just once. In a cruel twist, only weeks after Frank’s death, the Robertson family faced another blow.
Another relative, Andrew Robertson (Junior), died in January 1917, also in his 21st year. The grief at "Ivanhoe" must have been suffocating.
Today, Frank lies in the Heilly Station Cemetery in France, Row H, Grave 2. He rests alongside men from the UK and his fellow Australians who didn't make it to the New Year.
Back home in Mudgee, his name is carved into the stone of the District Fallen Soldiers Memorial. It stands as a permanent reminder of the farmer's son who travelled halfway across the world to do his bit, and who missed his last Christmas by just a few heartbreaking miles.

Australian Peacekeeper and Peacemaker Veterans’ Association Ltd's FB post (www.facebook.com)

 AKA - Frank Brassey Robertson