Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Life before the war
 
Harold George Cole was born In Adelaide, South Australia. He was married to Mrs Mary Anne V Cole, he was Roman Catholic and worked as a salesman. Before the War, he lived on Sydenham Road, Norwood, South Australia. His next to kin was his wife, Mrs Mary Anne V Cole. Harold George had medium complexion with brown hair and brown eyes. His chest measurements were 33-35 inches, he was 5 feet and 5 inches tall and weighed 128 pounds. Harold George enlisted on the 1st May 1916 and embarked on the 19th September 1916. He was 25 years and 6 months old when he embarked. He sailed from Melbourne and caught HMAT A73 Commonwealth boat to the Western Front. His service number was 368/368A. 
 
Life during the war
 
Harold George Cole decided to go to war as all the men at the time decided to go to war as they thought it would be a fun and interesting adventure. Harold was in the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion which was formed in 1918. The battalion had around 64 machine guns and took part towards the end of the war. The battalion’s unit colour patch was a black diamond with a gold centre which resembled them being a machine gun unit. His role was big because at the time of World War 1 the machine gun was the deadliest weapon. 
 
He fought on the Western Front and caught HMAT A73 Commonwealth boat there, but it does not say exactly where he fought on the Western Front. Some things that were happening politically around the 1916s were Clyde workers’ committee, shell crisis of 1915 and the Scottish Labour Party.
 
The main reason Australia entered World War One was that Britain, Australia’s mother country, entered and via their deep connection troops from Australia and New Zealand fought mainly in the Middle East. The battles he fought in are unknown but he fought in France as this was the main place he got wounded. He was in the Machine Gun Battalion so he didn’t carry any other than a small gun.
 
He was wounded in action a few times. He got a severe shrapnel wound in his right knee and was admitted to the Southern General Hospital (1). Due to this a letter was sent home to his wife to say that he had been wounded and was being transferred to several different hospitals. He wasn’t involved in many interesting or terrifying things other than getting wounded in action. He returned to Australia safely but after the War he had a house fire and lost his disembarkation papers and had to write a letter to get another copy.
 
He won two medals which were the British War memorial medal and the Victory medal. He disembarked from Plymouth on the 29th June 1919 and returned to Australia August 1919.
 
 
Life after the war
 
Harold George Cole was one of the lucky soldiers who was able to arrive home safely after the War. After the war, he had a house fire and lost his disembarkation papers and had to write a letter to get another copy. In the letter, he had to include his enlistment and disembarkation dates and he had to declare that the papers were not the hand of any other person.
 
ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Some qualities of what it means to be ANZAC are that you had to be brave enough to fight in the war and for your country, so they needed to have mateship and ingenuity. The Anzac spirit or Anzac legend is a concept which suggests that Australian and New Zealand soldiers came together, put their differences aside to fight for their country and protect their people. The characteristics that the soldiers showed on the battlefield are called the qualities or examples of Anzac spirit. Some examples of what it means to reflect on Anzac spirit are endurance, courage, ingenuity, and humour and mate ship. My soldier showed Anzac spirit when he got wounded several times but made a quick recovery and got to it by showing bravery and courage. Anzac spirit helped him get through the war and he survived.
 
  Bibliography
 
1.    https://sarcib.ww1.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/packet-content/53041#https://sarcib.ww1.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/packet_images/4599/SRG76_1_4599_10.jpg 
2.    https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3267509&S=16&R=0
3.    https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51541
4.    https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10712168
5.    https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/explore/units/370
6.    https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/rslvwm/comfy/cms/files/files/000/001/005/original/ResearchProfile_WWII.pdf
7.    https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/explore/people/796207
8.    http://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au