RIAL, Leonard Alexander
| Service Number: | 542 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 25 August 1914, Sydney, New South Wales |
| Last Rank: | Driver |
| Last Unit: | 1st Divisional Ammunition Column |
| Born: | Albury, New South Wales, Australia, 10 July 1893 |
| Home Town: | Albury, Albury Municipality, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Albury Grammar School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Clerk |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 22 July 1916, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz, France Flatiron Copse Cemetery (Plot X, row K, Grave No. 2), Mametz, France, Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Albury Grammar School Honour Roll, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Holbrook War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 25 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 542, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Sydney, New South Wales | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Oct 1914: | Involvement AIF WW1, Driver, 542, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Argyllshire embarkation_ship_number: A8 public_note: '' | |
| 18 Oct 1914: | Embarked AIF WW1, Driver, 542, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, HMAT Argyllshire, Sydney | |
| 22 Jul 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Driver, 542, 1st Divisional Ammunition Column, Battle for Pozières , --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 542 awm_unit: 1st Australian Divisional Ammunition Column awm_rank: Driver awm_died_date: 1916-07-22 |
Brave Beyond Belief
I have read my second cousin Lindy’s comments about my Uncle Len and endorse her sentiments wholeheartedly. There is one minor correction inasmuch as Len’s older brother Owen Campbell Rial did not serve in Gallipoli as Len did. Both men were killed in Northern France, Len near Pozieres in July 1916, and Owen near Armentieres in February 1917.
Why have I called this little story Brave Beyond Belief? I have just finished writing and publishing a book on my family history, one chapter of which is devoted to Len and Owen. Early on in my research I discovered that our family hero Len had the tag “Deserter” on his war records in Australian Archives. It was a huge shock.
Several months of research later, I established that Len, stationed for 3-4 months at a base near Alexandra, in Egypt,had with 25 other Aussie soldiers, stowed away on a British troopship bound for Gallipoli where he fought for the next three months. Why did he and his mates do this? It was because they saw hundreds of wounded men being returned to Alexandra between April and August, so went to Gallipoli to “do their bit”. For all that, his record still shows him as a deserter, which strikes me as a joke. A medal of honour would be a more appropriate reward in his record.
Submitted 7 May 2021 by Fred Ford
My Great Uncle
This is just a little dedication to my Great Uncle Len who lost his life in WW1 in France. He was loved by all his siblings and lived on in all of hearts through the proud stories of my Grandfather who missed his brother dearly.
France has many soldier's blood in its soils, Len was so far from his home at Four Mile Creek Station near Holbrook, NSW, Australia a sheep farm, proudly owned by his Mother Edith who kept the farm going whilst her two sons served, both surviving Gallipoli only to be gunned down in France.
Your pictures are with the family forever and you will live on through the legends we tell of our own family heroes.
Thankyou for your candid letters we have to hand, I am sure they gave Gran great comfort in her despair.
Submitted 23 June 2015 by Lindy Herron
Biography contributed by Evan Evans
From François Berthout
Dvr 542 Leonard Alexander Rial
1st Divisional Ammunition Column, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Australian Field Artillery
Under the resplendent sun, the now peaceful fields of the Somme undulate under the red waves of poppies in which stand in silence the white graves of thousands of young men who here, more than a hundred years ago, shed their blood in the mud and the barbed wire of the battlefields on which they served and fought with pride and bravery for their country and for France which will be forever grateful to them and which, with the greatest care, with love, respect and gratitude, will keep strong and alive the memory and the stories of all these young men whom we will perpetuate just as we will always carry the flame of Remembrance high and proud so that these heroes, our sons who came from so far, will never be forgotten.
Today, it is with the deepest respect, with gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, one of my boys of the Somme who gave his today, his life for our tomorrow.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Driver number 542 Leonard Alexander Rial who fought in the 1st Divisional Ammunition Column, 1st Field Artillery Brigade of the Australian Field Artillery and who was killed in action 105 years ago, on July 22, 1916 at the age of 23 on the Somme front, one day before the terrible battle of Pozieres.
Leonard Alexander Rial was born on July 10, 1893 in Albury, New South Wales, and was the son of George Horatio and Edith Rial, of 51 Auburn Road, Auburn, Victoria. Leonard was educated at the Albury Grammar School and then served for four years in the Senior Cadets and before the outbreak of the war, lived in Wyse Street, Albury, and worked as a clerk for the Dalgety Company.
Leonard enlisted on August 25, 1914 in Sydney, New South Wales, in Field Artillery Brigade 1, Brigade Ammunition Column, Australian Field Artillery and after a short period of training he embarked with his unit from Sydney, on board Transport A8 Argyllshire on October 18, 1914 and sailed for Egypt where he was disembarked on April 4, 1915 and joined the MEF (Mediterranean Expeditionary Force).
His service record during his service in Egypt is not known but on September 21, 1915 he was declared a deserter by court of inquiry but remained with his unit and embarked from Alexandria to reach the Gallipoli peninsula on November 3 and transferred to the 3rd Battery of the Australian Field Artillery but on November 6, was sanctioned for being absent without leave and on November 27, was taken on strength in the 3rd Battery then evacuated to Egypt.
On December 22, 1915, Leonard arrived in Alexandria and joined the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) then three months later, on March 21, 1916, embarked with his unit and proceeded overseas for France and was disembarked in Marseilles on March 29 and sent on the Somme front where he fought with great courage.
Unfortunately, four months later, on July 22, 1916, while he was fighting in Pozieres, Leonard was hit by a shell and died of concussion, he was instantly killed alongside two of his comrades, he was 23 years old.
Today,Leonard Alexander Rial rests in peace with his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at the Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription "Loved by all who knew him".
Leonard had one brother and a cousin who, like him, served courageously during the war.His brother was Corporal number 105 Owen Campbell Rial who fought in the 37th Australian Infantry Battalion and died of his wounds in Armentieres on February 27, 1917 at the age of 26. He now rests in peace at Hazebrouck Communal Cemetery and his grave bears the following inscription "He died as he lived a man".
Leonard's cousin was named Ronald James Rial, he fought as Lance Corporal number 6198 in the 19th Australian Infantry Battalion and was killed in action at Passchendaele Ridge, Belgium on October 6, 1917 at the age of 20.Sadly his body was never found and he is today remembered and honored with respect at the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres.
Leonard, you who, in Gallipoli and in the fields of the Somme fought with bravery and determination with the strength of your youth and who here, alongside your comrades, shed your blood and gave your life,I would like, from the bottom of my heart to say thank you for all that you have done for Australia and for France, two countries linked forever in the most beautiful of friendships, united in the respect and the Remembrance of a whole generation of men to whom we will be forever grateful and who, on these sacred grounds, on the grounds of a friendly country, will always be loved, remembered and honored as our sons, our valiant Diggers who, in the Somme, at Pozieres, Amiens, Villers-Bretonneux fought like lions with the greatest bravery alongside their brothers in arms in the trenches and battlefields on which they gave every part of their youth to do what was right, to do their duty and make their country proud.Young and courageous, they answered to the call of duty under the flag of Australia to come to the aid of our old country which was dying under the shells and joined our villages in the north of France with admirable determination on their faces. and smiles which remained engraved in the hearts of the children and the people of France.Thanks to the courage and the perseverance of these men who showed the determination of Australia, we found the strength to continue the fight, to hold and to fight side by side for peace and freedom, they were our heroes who, in the mud of the trenches, under downpours of steel, remained strong and united and gave all they had to protect their positions, to defend the lands of France, a country they knew very little but for which they did and sacrificed so much, each of them.In the mud, in the cold, under the fire of artillery and machine guns they resisted and faced tenaciously, united to each other in the strongest comradeship. Under poison gas, under bullets, not a single one of them stepped back, all moved forward with conviction to end this war, to end all wars.Alongside their brothers in arms from the Commonwealth and France they did their part in this great war, the most terrible war of the 20th century and soon, on the walls of schools in Amiens and Villers-Bretonneux, the children wrote these few words which today resonate throughout the Somme "Do not forget Australia".More than a hundred years have passed but we will never forget all that these young men lived and went through in the poppy fields, their bravery will forever be engraved in our hearts. They were young, full of hopes and dreams and in heroic assaults, many of them were mowed down under machine gun fire and in hand-to-hand combat which, under the metal of the bayonets, ended in bloodbaths and fell side by side in a deep mud where they finally found, after so much pain, suffering and tears, the peace in which they rest today under the rows of their white graves, their last place of rest, always united in the mateship with which they lived, fought and fell and it is with all my heart, with energy and the same devotion that they showed, that I would watch over them to make them live beyond their names on the stone of their graves and memorials so that in our hearts their memory will never fade.They will never be forgotten.Thank you so much Leonard, for everything.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,we will remember him,we will remember them.
Biography
"...542 Driver Leonard Alexander Rial, Brigade Ammunition Column, 1st Field Artillery Brigade, of Albury, NSW... A clerk with the Dalgety Company, he enlisted on 24 August 1914 and embarked from Sydney aboard HMAT Argyllshire on 18 October 1914. He was killed in action 22 July 1916 at Pozieres in France and is buried at Flatiron Copse Cemetery, Mametz. Two of his family members also served with the AIF. They were, his brother, 105 Corporal Owen Campbell Rial, 37th Battalion, who died of wounds on 27 February 1917 at Armentieres, France; and his cousin, 6198 Lance Corporal Ronald James Rial, 19th Battalion, who was killed in action on 6 October 1917, at Passchendaele Ridge, Belgium." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)
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