Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Name: George Henry Weidenhofer
Service Number: 17965
Place of Birth: Woodside
Date of Birth: 16 December 1889
Place of Enlistment: Adelaide
Date of Enlistment: 18 October 1916
Age at Enlistment: 26 years 10 months
Next of Kin: Mother, Mary Ann Weidenhofer
Occupation: Chainman, Survey Department
Religion: Church of England
Rank: Private
George left Sydney on board the Anchises on 8 August 1917, reaching Liverpool on 2 October, then proceeded to France a month later. He served with the 15 Field Ambulance in France throughout the duration of the war. George was hospitalised for 3 weeks with bronchitis at Rouen, France on 26 March 1919 before returning to Australia on the Maine on 23 July and was discharged on 6 November.

Harold continued to serve in the fields of France until on 6 May 1918 he was reported killed in action on the Somme- just 2 weeks before his 23rd birthday. His burial site was never recorded. Some years later a memorial was erected at Villers- Bretonneux in the Somme area of France “to commemorate by name, 10,000 Australian soldiers who fell in the battlefields of France, and who have no known graves.”
Death notices were placed in Adelaide newspapers by the Weidenhofer family on Harold’s behalf, one read:
“Somewhere in France he’s sleeping in a grave we will never see, may some tender hand lay flowers there for me.”
Another read: “In loving memory of our dear brother, Sergeant G.H.Weidenhofer, killed in action on May 6 1918”. Inserted by his loving brother Hine and sister-in-law Irene.
Details courtesy of The Weidenhofer Family History and Hannah Weidenhofer / Death notices courtesy of the Australian War Memorial.