James Alexander REID

Regimental number335
Place of birthGeelong, Victoria
SchoolState School and Gordon College, Victoria
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationButcher
Address165 Malop Street, Geelong, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation21
Height5' 7.5"
Weight168 lbs
Next of kinJ Reid, 165 Malop Street, Geelong, Victoria
Previous military serviceServed as Sergeant in 70th Infantry, Citizen Military Forces; still serving at time of AIF enlistment.
Enlistment date7 April 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentSergeant
Unit name29th Battalion, A Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/46/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A11 Ascanius on 10 November 1915
Rank from Nominal RollSergeant
Unit from Nominal Roll29th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour Circular'He was simply a dear home lad who early answered the call & died in the cause of freedom.' (father)
FateKilled in Action 20 July 1916
Age at death from cemetery records22
Place of burialFromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery (Plot III, Row C, Grave No 2), France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
116
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: James and Rosa REID, 'Alex', 13 Swanston Street, Geelong, Victoria
Family/military connectionsCousins: 1 died in the South African War; one killed in action, France.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Embarked Melbourne, 10 November 1915; disembarked Suez, 7 December 1915.

Admitted to 8th Field Ambulance, Serapeum, 27 January 1916 (bronchial catarrh); discharged to duty, 31 January 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 16 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 23 June 1916.

Missing in action, 19-20 July 1916.

Court of Inquiry, held in the field, 23 August 1917, pronounced fate as 'KILLED IN ACTION, 20 July 1916'.

Handwritten note on file: 'Believed buried in vicinity of Fleurbaix Sh 36'.

Note, Red Cross File No 2270108: 'No trace Germany. Cert. by Capt. Mills. 10.10.19.'

Statement, 763 Pte P. BROMFIELD, C Company, 29th Bn (patient, 2nd Southern General Hospital, Soutmead, Bristol, England), 16 November 1916: '[380] Pte. Buckland A. Coy. 29th Batt: told me that he saw Sergt. J.A. Reid killed in the night of July 19th. in the German trenches they were attacking. The trenches were in front of Fromelles and were not held. Reid's body was left there.'

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

Originally listed as 'No Known Grave' and commemorated at V.C. Corner (Panel No 1), Australian Cemetery, Fromelles; subsequently (2010) identified, and interred in the Fromelles (Pheasant Wood) Military Cemetery, France.
Miscellaneous detailsName entered incorrectly on Embarkation Roll as James Allen REID.
SourcesNAA: B2455, REID James Alexander
Red Cross file 2270108