| Regimental number | 973 |
| Place of birth | London, England |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Farmer |
| Address | 2A Lower Belgrave Street, London SW, England |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 20 |
| Height | 5' 8" |
| Weight | 145 lbs |
| Next of kin | Mother, Mrs Isabel Neal, 2A Lower Belgrave Street, London SW, England |
| Enlistment date | |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 17th Battalion, C Company |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/34/1 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A32 Themistocles on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 17th Battalion |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 19 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 17), 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 | 83 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents; George Henry and Isabella NEAL, 82 Balham Park Road, London, England |
| Other details |
War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front Proceeded from Alexandria to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, 16 August 1915. Admitted to Military Hospital, Floriana, Malta, 14 November 1915 (pneumonia); to No. 1 Auxiliary Hospital, Heliopolis, Egypt, 22 January 1916; to No. 2 Auxiliary Hospital, Heliopolis, 1 February 1916. Commenced return to Australia on board 'Nestor' from Suez: invalided for 3 months' change, 9 February 1916. Re-embarked from Sydney on board HMAT 'Euripides', 9 September 1916, with 17th Bn, 15th Reinforcement; disembarked Plymouth, England, 26 October 1916. Proceeded overseas to France, 13 December 1916; joined Bn, 18 December 1916. Admitted to 1st Stationary Hospital, Rouen, 22 December 1916; transferred to 51st General Hospital, Etaples, 25 December 1916; discharged to Base Details after period of treatment for venereal disease, 5 March 1917; rejoined Bn, 13 March 1917. Admitted to 3rd Stationary Hospital, Rouen, 17 April 1917 (pyrexia, unknown origin); to 2nd Convalescent Depot, 21 April 1917; rejoined Bn, 13 May 1917. Killed in action, Belgium, 20 September 1917. CO advised that he 'was killed in action by a sniper's bullet instantaneously. He was buried ... approximately 1200 yards S.S.W. of ZONNEBEKE'. Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medalet, which struck him in the head and killed hi |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
