RANKIN, David Price
| Service Number: | 1603 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 July 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 30th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Lismore, New South Wales, Australia, 12 April 1892 |
| Home Town: | Lismore, Lismore Municipality, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Employee |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 28 August 1918, aged 26 years |
| Cemetery: |
Heath Cemetery, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Dunoon Presbyterian Honor Roll, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Lismore & District Memorial Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 19 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1603, 30th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 9 Nov 1915: | Involvement Private, 1603, 30th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Beltana embarkation_ship_number: A72 public_note: '' | |
| 9 Nov 1915: | Embarked Private, 1603, 30th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Beltana, Sydney | |
| 29 Sep 1917: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 1603, 30th Infantry Battalion, Stayed on duty. | |
| 23 Oct 1917: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 1603, 30th Infantry Battalion, Stayed on duty. | |
| 8 Aug 1918: | Honoured Military Medal, Villers-Bretonneux, Conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty while acting as a stretcher bearer. Sadly he never received his medal as he was killed in action on 28th August 1918 before it could be presented. It was given to his eldest sister, Edyth. |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
David Price RANKIN (Service Number 1603) was born on 12th April 1892 at Lismore. He was a temporary porter in the Traffic Branch of the Railways in the Sydney District from 1st July 1913.
Rankin enlisted on 19th July 1915.On his Attestation Papers, which were signed at Liverpool, he gave his ‘trade or calling’ as ‘Railway Employee’ and his father living at Bexhill as his next of kin. He also stated that he had spent two years with the Lismore Cadets. he was allotted to the 1st Reinforcements to the 30th Australian Infantry Battalion Rankin and embarked HMAT ‘Beltana’ at Sydney on 9th November 1915. He reached Suez on 11 December. The first half of 1916 was spent in further training in Egypt. Rankin was disciplined for insolence to an officer on 2nd June and received four days Field Punishment No. 2 as penalty. This was not his first offence as he had been found AWL while he was still at a depot in Sydney.
He embarked HMAT ‘Honorata’ at Alexandria for passage to join the British Expeditionary Force in France on the Western Front on 16th June, reaching Marseilles on 23rd June.
In November 1916 Rankin became ill with gastritis and had to be evacuated to England. After his recovery, in December he was found guilty of neglecting to show a pass to an MP when ordered to do so and then attempting to bribe an MP while under arrest. For this he received 72 hours detention. After furlough and convalescence, it was March 1917 before he re-joined his unit in France.
On 29th September 1917 he was wounded in action, but remained on duty, and he did the same on 23rd October. A week later he was hospitalised with otitis media and this resulted in a series of admissions to the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance, the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station, the 3rd Canadian General Hospital and the rest camp, before passing through the 5th Australian Division Base Depot to re-join his unit on 28th December.
In February 1918 he had leave in England. In April he was admitted to hospital once again, now with PUO – Pyrexia (fever) of Unknown Origin. This resulted in a new series of admissions to the Field Ambulance, the 6th General Hospital, to a hospital ship for passage to England and the 5th General Hospital. As he recovered, he was in disciplinary strife again, this time for making an improper reply to a Warrant Officer and this cost him seven days’ pay.
Furlough followed his recovery from PUO and he finally reached the 30th Battalion again on 14th June 1918.
Rankin acted as a stretcher bearer during the Amiens Offensive of 7/8 August 1918, and for his actions was awarded the Military Medal:
‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in the operations of the 7/8th August 1918 near VILLERS-BRETONNEUX.
Pte. Rankin was a stretcher bearer on Battalion Headquarters, and on the afternoon of the 8th inst., when Bn. Hqrs. was heavily shelled, he shewed great courage and determination in the organising and the supervising of bearer parties for the evacuation of 12 Officers and other ranks, who were wounded, and were all stretcher cases.
Owing to the heavy demand for stretcher bearers in the forward area, there was a temporary shortage. Pte RANKIN, noticing a party of enemy prisoners passing by went and brought them in, and organised them into bearer parties.
He also assisted in carrying several cases till they were beyond the very heavily shelled area, then returning to organise further parties, thereby keeping himself under heavy shell fire during the whole period.’
He never received his medal because he was killed in action before it could be presented on 28th August 1918.
Sgt. D. Woodbine (2193) reported:
‘30-B-H.Q. S/B, 5/6 dark, 25 to 30. Came from N.S.W., In a wood in front of Foucacourt on 28/8/18 at 5 p.m. we were in the R.A.P. [Regimental Aid Post] Rankin who was engaged stretcher bearing was only a few yards away when he was killed instantly by a piece of shell. He was buried at the P/C in St. Martins Wood – a few isolated graves on the battlefield. A cross was erected. I have since seen the grave.’
After the war isolated graves such as Rankin’s were brought into more established cemeteries. His remains were exhumed and re-interred in Heath Cemetery, 2500 yards N of Harbonnières.
It was arranged that the Military Medal would be presented to Rankin’s father, also named David, by the President of Terania Shire in the Richmond River District, in conjunction with the welcome home from active service of David Rankin’s brother and other returning men. Sadly, David Rankin Senior died before this could happen, and the medal was given to the soldier’s eldest sister Edyth, who was the sole legatee of his estate. Her chosen inscription for his headstone was:
‘Little we thought when we parted it would be our last farewell’.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.