The AIF Project

Christian Valentine NOMMENSEN

Place of birthMelbourne, Victoria
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationDraughtsman
AddressMowbray Street, East Brisbane, Queensland
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation21
Height5' 9"
Weight123 lbs
Next of kinMother, Mrs Elizabeth Nommensen, Mowbray Street, East Brisbane, Queensland
Previous military serviceServed for 5 years in the Senior Cadets, Area 5C; 1 year in the 9th Infantry Regiment, Citizen Military Forces.
Enlistment date2 March 1916
Place of enlistmentBrisbane, Queensland
Rank on enlistment2nd Lieutenant
Unit name47th Battalion, 8th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/64/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A64 Demosthenes on 22 December 1916
Rank from Nominal RollLieutenant
Unit from Nominal Roll47th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 28 March 1918
Age at death from cemetery records23
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
144
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Nommen Friedrich and Elizabeth NOMMENSEN. Native of Armadale, Victoria
Other details

War service: Western Front

Embarked Sydney, 22 December 1916; disembarked Plymouth, England, 5 March 1917; marched in to 12th Training Bn, Codford, 4 March 1917.

Proceeded overseas to France, 25 May 1917; taken on strength, 47th Bn, Belgium, 22 June 1917.

Promoted Lieutenant, 16 September 1917.

Killed in action, France, 28 March 1918.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, NOMMENSEN Christian Valentine

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