Herbert FORREST

Regimental number6768
Place of birthWhitefield, Lancashire, England
Place of birthFound guilty,
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationCarpenter
AddressTownsville, Queensland
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation21.6
Height5' 10.5"
Weight150 lbs
Next of kinMother, Mrs S Forrest, 53 Higher Lane, Whitefield, Lancashire, England
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date18 October 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll21 September 1915
Place of enlistmentEnoggera, Queensland
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name9th Battalion, 22nd Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/26/4
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Brisbane, Queensland, on board HMAT A74 Marathon on 27 October 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll49th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 12 October 1917
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 29), Belgium

The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave.

The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936.

Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
148
Other details

War service: Western Front

Embarked Brisbane, 26 October 1916; found guilty, at sea, 14 November 1916, of being absent without leave from 3 pm parade: awarded forfeiture of 1 day's pay; found guilty, at sea, 17 December 1916, of being absent without leave, 5-9 pm, 15 December 1916; awarded forfeiture of 1 day's pay; found guilty, at sea, 30 December 1916, of neglect of duty. i.e. sleeping at his post whilst on Sentry Guard, 30 December 1916: awarded forfeiture of 4 days' pay; disembarked Plymouth, England, 9 January 1917.

Found guilty, 3rd Training Bn, 5 February 1917, of being absent without leave from midnight, 26 January till 9.30, 1 February 1917: awarded 144 hours' detention, and forfeited a total of 15 days' pay.

Found guilty, 28 February 1917, of failing to appear at a place appointed by his C.O.: awarded 168 hours' detention.

Found guilty, 1 March 1917, of failing to appear at a place appointed by his C.O., 1 March 1917: awarded 21 days' detention.

Proceeded overseas to France, 19 June 1917; taken on strength, 49th Bn, in the field, 7 July 1917.

Killed in action, Belgium, 12 October 1917.

Statement, Red Cross File No 1090309M, 3703 Pte H.H. YATES, A Company, 49th Bn, 6 July 1918; 'Forrest was in my gun team and was killed outright at Passchendaele right on the ridge by shell-fire. I saw his dead body there very much knocked about. He was buried in the Shell-hole. he belonged to England I think.'

Second statement, 6740 Pte J. ELLIOTT, B Company, 49th Bn, 15 July 1918: About 10th October [he] was killed by shell. He was at the time in dug out near Polygon Wood. Shell fell right on dug out blown to pieces and don't think he had a burial. I was told this by Pte. R. Graham 49th Battn. A. Co. who took Forrest's paybook and who was close to him at the time.'

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, FORREST Herbert
Red Cross File No 1090309M