SMITH, Charles Harold
| Service Number: | 486 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 17 August 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Second Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 51st Infantry Battalion (WW1) |
| Born: | Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, 1892 |
| Home Town: | Perth, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Killed in action, Mouquet Farm, France, 3 September 1916 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Peppermint Grove St Columba's Presbyterian Church Cottesloe WWI Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 486, 11th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Nov 1914: | Involvement Private, 486, 11th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: '' | |
| 2 Nov 1914: | Embarked Private, 486, 11th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Fremantle | |
| 28 Jan 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Corporal, 11th Infantry Battalion | |
| 1 Mar 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Company Quartermaster Sergeant, 51st Infantry Battalion (WW1) | |
| 1 Mar 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Company Quartermaster Sergeant, 51st Infantry Battalion (WW1) | |
| 26 Aug 1916: | Promoted AIF WW1, Second Lieutenant, 51st Infantry Battalion (WW1) |
Help us honour Charles Harold Smith's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Charles was the son of Charles Augustus and Georgina Smith, of Perth, Western Australia. He had been born in Bathurst, New South Wales. His dad was the station master at Kalgoorlie when he enlisted, very early in the war, during September 1914.
Charles was wounded in action at the Anzac landing on 25 April 1915. He suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen and was evacuated to Egypt. He returned to Gallipoli in time for the August fighting and was promoted to Corporal before the evacuation.
He was transferred to the 51st Battalion during the reorganisation of the AIF in early 1916 and was promoted to Company Quarter Master Sergeant in his new unit. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant a week before the 51st was involved in last attack on Mouquet Farm by the Australians on 3 September 1916. He was reported as killed in action after the battle.
In his Red Cross Wounded and Missing file, a Private Michael Doohan stated he took a water bottle from Lieutenant Smith’s body some days after the attack. Doohan was awarded a Military Medal for his actions when on the night of September 12, nine days after the attack, a Canadian patrol found three 51st men in no-man's land near the south-west corner of the Farm. Two were badly wounded and the third was Doohan, who though also wounded had stayed with them, feeding them with bully beef and other food for which he had foraged at night among the dead. Doohan said he had found Lieutenant Smith’s body in a shell-hole, unmarked and probably killed by concussion.
Click images to start slideshow.