The AIF Project

Archie GAMMON

Regimental number4398
Place of birthSellinge England
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationLabourer
AddressSwan Hill PO, Swan Hill, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation21
Height5' 11.25"
Weight130 lbs
Next of kinMother, Mrs Grace Down, 53 East Cliff, Folkestone, Kent, England
Enlistment date11 October 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll10 November 1915
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name23rd Battalion, 11th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/49/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board RMS Malwa on 23 April 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll23rd Battalion
FateKilled in Action 2 October 1917
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 23), 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
99
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Taken on strength, Anzac Provost Corps, Abbassia, 3 April 1916.

Embarked Alexandria for United Kingdom, 3 August 1916. Proceeded overseas to France, 12 November 1916; taken on strength, 23rd Bn, 2 December 1916.

Admitted to 5th Australian Field Ambulance, 23 January 1917 (influenza), and transferred same day to Corps Rest Station; transferred to 45th Casualty Clearing Station, 27 January 1917; to Ambulance Train No 25, 28 January 1917, and transferred to 6th General Hospital, Rouen, 29 January 1917; to England, 11 February 1917, and admitted to 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth, 13 February 1917; discharged on furlough, 8 March 1917, to report to No 1 Command Depot, Perham Downs, 23 March 1917. Marched in to No 3 command Depot, Hurdcott, 13 April 1917. Found guilty, 17 May 1917, of being absent without leave, 12 noon, 12 May, to 4 pm, 13 May 1917: awarded 7 days' confined to camp and forfeited 2 days' pay. Found guilty, 9 June 1917, of being absent without leave, 9.30 am, 20 May, to 3.45 pm, 4 June 1917: awarded 15 days' Field Punishment No 2, and forfeited 32 days' pay. Proceeded overseas to France, 14 June 1917. Found guilty, 21 June 1917, of being improperly dressed on parade: awarded 7 days' confined to camp. Rejoined unit, 3 July 1917.

Admitted to 6th Australian Field Ambulance, 16 August 1917 (scabies); transferred same day to 4th Stationary Hospital, Arques; discharged to duty, 23 august 1917; rejoined unit, 23 August 1917.

Killed in action, Belgium, 2 October 1917.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

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