Thread: Any Anzac descendants ??

Originally Posted by DeeJay

The things you learn
My wife has been researching a great uncle of hers killed at Gallipoli in Schrapnel Gully. Every Anzac day up to now, what little info she had - a photo and a medal were sent off to school with one of our kids the day before, good stuff for them too. Her sister, a teacher, has his wallet and watch, and does much the same with her classes.
Well, there is a new website that swmbo says has been only available for a couple of weeks, that has an enormous amount of data and she has been able to access more photo's and info than ever before.
Here is the funny part, I knew I had a great uncle killed in France, but Dad only ever said he took too many risks and look where it got him, sort of attitude, but I knew he was affected by his death, as it was taken really badly by his father.
Well, we found out more about him and it turns out he was Albert Jacka's battalion intelligence officer and won the Military Cross & Bar, DSO and mentioned in despatches 3 times. He enlisted with his brother being numbers 279 & 280 and both sailed together for Alexandria (then Gallipoli) He is buried at Villiers Brettanoux and his brother survived the war.
Here is the website.
http://www.awm.gov.au/database/collection.asp

As an example, to find the Battalion photo of Jacka's 14th click on collection search then item E01725 and the conflict as WW1 1914-18.
My great uncle is Lt JH Johnson 5th from the left back row.
(The 0 in E01725 is a number, as I found out) and the site is really slow today being what it is.
Good luck looking up those long lost rellies
David

David, My Great uncle Private Francis Walter Gibson # 857 2nd Battalion, 1st Division AIF was wounded on landing at Gallipolli on 25th April 1915, he was transported back to Egypt to recover and then was sent back to Gallipolli just in time for the big offensive on Lone Pine, he was killed In Action between the 6th August and the 9th August. He was found by the company Priest who buried him where he died in the Turkish trench. His Family had no Idea that he was dead until my Grandfather Stanley Harrington Clyde Gibson (Francis's brother) who was in Egypt (waiting to go to France) and making enquiries at the army hospital there for any info on his brother when he bumped into the Priest who had buried him, this was in February 1916, My Grandfather Stanley survived severe gassing and Gunshot wounds and one of his other brothers John Clyde Gibson also served and was badly wounded in France, both returned to Australia in 1919, John died of his wounds in 1924, he must have suffered greatly to take 5 years to succumb to his wounds.
The thing that upsets me is how much different Australia would be today if the 60,000 young Australians hadn't died, but lived normal lives, married and had families, A lot of women who lost Boyfriends and Husbands never married or remarried, what a loss of diversity in our population. Also many of the 40,000 that were seriously wounded and gassed died prematurely, their loss to Australia is hard to imagine. Do you know if Australian soldiers were photographed as part of their Military record, I have no Photos of Francis or John and would love to find out if the military have any, Regards Frank.

Originally Posted by DeeJay

The things you learn
My wife has been researching a great uncle of hers killed at Gallipoli in Schrapnel Gully. Every Anzac day up to now, what little info she had - a photo and a medal were sent off to school with one of our kids the day before, good stuff for them too. Her sister, a teacher, has his wallet and watch, and does much the same with her classes.
Well, there is a new website that swmbo says has been only available for a couple of weeks, that has an enormous amount of data and she has been able to access more photo's and info than ever before.
Here is the funny part, I knew I had a great uncle killed in France, but Dad only ever said he took too many risks and look where it got him, sort of attitude, but I knew he was affected by his death, as it was taken really badly by his father.
Well, we found out more about him and it turns out he was Albert Jacka's battalion intelligence officer and won the Military Cross & Bar, DSO and mentioned in despatches 3 times. He enlisted with his brother being numbers 279 & 280 and both sailed together for Alexandria (then Gallipoli) He is buried at Villiers Brettanoux and his brother survived the war.
Here is the website.
http://www.awm.gov.au/database/collection.asp

As an example, to find the Battalion photo of Jacka's 14th click on collection search then item E01725 and the conflict as WW1 1914-18.
My great uncle is Lt JH Johnson 5th from the left back row.
(The 0 in E01725 is a number, as I found out) and the site is really slow today being what it is.
Good luck looking up those long lost rellies
David

Thanks for posting that DeeJay, I looked up my grandfathers records from when he served in France from 1916-1918 and was amazed to find that they still have all this stuff in their archives from his enlistment papers through to parental consent forms, his "EBA" of 3 shillings a day, service and medical records through to his invalid discharge papers. Will pass it on to other family members, a bit of history there.
Thanks again