RODDAN, Alexander Reginald
| Service Number: | 1967 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 55th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Cooma, New South Wales, Australia , 28 August 1894 |
| Home Town: | Cooma, Cooma-Monaro, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Porter |
| Died: | Died of wounds, France, 21 March 1918, aged 23 years |
| Cemetery: |
Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension II B 40 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Cooma St Andrew's Memorial Gate, Goulburn District Railway Employees Great War Honour Roll, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Yass & District WW1 Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 23 Jun 1916: | Involvement Private, 1967, 55th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Barambah embarkation_ship_number: A37 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 23 Jun 1916: | Embarked Private, 1967, 55th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Barambah, Sydney | |
| 20 Mar 1918: | Wounded AIF WW1, Corporal, 1967, 55th Infantry Battalion, Wounded in action. Admitted to the 15th Australian Field Ambulance with multiple shrapnel wounds. Transferred to the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station on 21st March 1918 where he died of his wounds on the same day. | |
| 21 Mar 1918: | Involvement Corporal, 1967, 55th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 1967 awm_unit: 55th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1918-03-21 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Alexander Reginald RODDAN (Service Number 1967) was born on 28th August 1894 at Cooma. He began work as a temporary junior porter with the Railways on 6th September 1911. He was in the Traffic Branch and the Goulburn District. He became a permanent employee on 21st December 1911 and a porter on his 21st birthday. He remained in this role for the rest of his railway career. He was granted leave for military service on 29th October 1915.
He had enlisted at Goulburn a month earlier, giving his father John Alexander, living in Goulburn as his next of kin. He was allotted to the 3rd Reinforcements to the 55th Battalion. He embarked HMAT ‘Berambah’ at Sydney on 23rd June 1916 and reached Plymouth (England) on 25th August. He had been promoted to Sergeant for the voyage only, and reverted to Private on marching in. On the same day he was appointed EDP (Extra Duties Pay) Sergeant in the 14th Training Battalion, though a month later he reverted to EDP Corporal and in January 1917 to Private, though simultaneously promoted to Corporal!
In February 1917 he attended a Course of Instruction at the Southern Command Bombing School. Lyndhurst and qualified as an Instructor in Bomb-Throwing. In August he was admitted to the 1st Australian Dermatological Hospital, Bulford with Venereal Disease which took 10 days to clear. He then moved to the Command Training Depot at Parkhouse and the 3rd Training Brigade, Codford, and the Overseas Training Brigade at Longbridge Deverill.
Roddan proceeded overseas to France via Southampton on 10th January 1918. He was taken on the strength of the 55th Battalion on 16th January.
He was wounded in action on 20th March 1918. He was admitted to the 15th Australian Field Ambulance with multiple shrapnel wounds. He was transferred to the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station on 21 March 1918where he died of those wounds on the same day. He was buried in the Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension, Bailleul, France.
A letter from Chaplain Gilbert Harding of the No. 2 Casualty Clearing Station, now included in the Australian Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau Files, confirms these details:
‘Re the above-named soldier. He was admitted as a patient to this Hospital C.C.S. suffering from multiple gunshot wounds on 21-3-18 and died the same day. He was buried at Outtersteene by the Presbyterian Chaplain then with us.’
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.