| Regimental number | 5445 |
| Place of birth | Lucknow, Orange, New South Wales |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Miner |
| Address | Yerranderie, via Camden, New South Wales |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 21 |
| Next of kin | Father, Mr R Rodwell, Yerranderie, via Camden, New South Wales |
| Previous military service | Nil |
| Enlistment date | |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 4th Battalion, 17th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/21/4 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A40 Ceramic on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 56th Battalion |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 23 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 29), 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 | 163 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: Richard and Annie RODWELL. Native of Lucknow, Orange, New South Wales |
| Family/military connections | Brother: 1978 Driver Charles Gordon Russell RODWELL, 34th Bn, returned to Australia, 14 January 1918. |
| Other details |
War service: Egypt, Western Front Disembarked Suez, 17 May 1916. Reallotted to 14th Training Bn, Tel el Kebir, as reinforcement to 56th Bn, 24 May 1916. Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 21 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 29 June 1916. Joined 56th Bn, 26 July 1916. Found guilty, 21 August 1916, of being absent from billet without a pass: awarded 5 days' Field Punishment No. 2. Detached to Divisional Bomb School, 2 October 1916; rejoined Bn from School, 13 October 1916. Admitted to 2nd Casualty Clearing Station, 21 November 1916 (pleurisy); transferred to 6th General Hospital, Rouen, 27 November 1916 (myalgia); to 2nd Convalescent Depot, 3 December 1916. Rejoined unit, 20 December 1916. Admitted to 3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station, 6 April 1917 (trench feet); transferred by Ambulance Train to 6th General Hospital, Rouen; to 2nd Convalescent Depot, 13 April 1917; to 4th Infantry Base Depot, 23 April 1917; rejoined unit, 27 April 1917. On leave to England, 6 September 1917. Appointed Lance Corporal, 14 September 1917. Rejoined unit from leave, 18 September 1917. Killed in action, 28 September 1917. Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
