Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Lieutenant Charles Carlson DCM (Service No:Q209117) enlisted in the ACMF on 9 May 1942 and was attached to E Coy 11 Battalion VDC (QLD) when he was Discharged on 20 December 1944. On 11 April 1943 Charles had called a Parade for Musket practice and was using gelignite explosions to acclimatise troops to the 'noise of war'. A faulty gelignite plug exploded in his hands, resulting in amputation of his right hand above the wrist.

Lieutenant Carlson served in WWI (Sergeant; Service No:148) and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal in 1918 for his gallantry and devotion to duty in France serving with 41st Infantry Battalion.

Born in 1892 in Laidley on the Darling Downs in QLD, Charles was the sixth of seven children of Johan Carlson (b1858 in Stockholm, Sweden) and Agnes Ellen Newman (b1865 in Wiltshire, England). Johan (a Farmer) and Agnes married in 1882 in Ipswich QLD and settled at Laidley on the Darling Downs where they raised their family before moving to Mackay QLD in 1893. Following Johan's death in 1896, Agnes returned to Laidley where she later remarried.

Charles started work as a Carpenter in Laidley prior to WWI, and in 1919 married Elsie Margaret Munt (b1895 in Laidley, QLD). Charles and Elsie lived briefly in Brisbane where Charles was a Contractor with his brothers, and in 1921 purchased property at Dallarnil nr Biggenden QLD where he was a Cane and Dairy Farmer. In 1940 he suffered significant hip injuries in an accident, and following his Discharge from the ACMF he continued to Farm, even in retirement at Moonford nr Maryborough, QLD. Charles died in 1950, and his Obituary (Trove) states 'His cheery, happy personality gained him friends wherever he went. His integrity, high moral and physical courage set an example of the highest standard'.