The AIF Project

Charles John REID

Regimental number3897
Place of birthAdelaide, South Australia
SchoolNorth Melbourne State School, Victoria
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationLabourer
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation28
Height5' 1.5"
Weight122 lbs
Next of kinFather, James Reid, 62 Baillie Street, North Melbourne, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date6 December 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name24th Battalion, 9th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/41/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A69 Warilda on 8 February 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll59th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 19 July 1916
Age at death from cemetery records29
Place of burialAubers Ridge British Cemetery (Plot I, Row F, Grave No. 4), Aubers, France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
168
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: James and Annie REID, 68 Baillie Street, Melbourne, Victoria. Native of Adelaide, South Australia
Family/military connectionsBrother: 2244 Pte Alexander Ernest REID, 24th Bn, returned to Australia, 31 March 1919.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Taken on strength, 58th Bn, Ferry Post, 20 April 1916.

Transferred to and taken on strength of 59th Bn, 19 May 1916.

Found guilty, 22 May 1916, ofbeing absent without leave at 1800, 22 May 1916, at Outpost Duty, Ferry Post: awarded 5 days' Field Punishment No 2 and 5 hours' pack drill.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 18 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 29 June 1916.

Posted missing, 19 July 1916.

Court of Enquiry, held in the field, 29 August 1917, pronounced fate as 'Killed in Action, 19 July 1916'.

Handwritten note on Form B103: 'Presumed to be Buried In No Man's Land approx 5J90 43 to 5K02.5.1 Sheet Hazebrouck 5A'.

Statement, Red Cross File No 2260703, 3976 Pte J. THOMAS, B Company, 59th Bn (patient, Southall Hospital, England), 11 December 1916: 'In the charge at Fleurbaix, informant and Reid were badly wounded, and lay out together nearer the German lines than our own. Informant managed to crawl back and when he left, Reid was in a dying condition, wounded through the shoulder, and an explosion bullet through the left foot. Informant told the stretcher-bearers about Reid, but they found the firing too hot, and could not get to him.'

Second statement, 3898 Pte C.A. RYLANDS, B Company, 59th Bn, 18 January 1917: 'Witness says he saw soldier killed by a shell which blew one of his legs off and he bled to death at Fromelles. He was just making back into his own trench having received a previous wound.

Third statement, 4078A Pte W.D. COOK, 5th Pioneer Bn, 27 July 1917: 'Casualty went over the parapet on the 19th July at Fleurbaix in the 2nd wave. He was killed there. I saw the body lying in No Man's Land with a shoulder and one side of the leg badly torn. He was quite dead. I saw him. I was a S.B. when I passed him by. We could only attend to the wounded. There was no time to bring in the dead.Casulaty as brought in and buried at Sailly with 21 others. They put a cross over the grave on which his name is inscribed.'

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, REID Charles John
Red Cross File No 2260703

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