| Regimental number | 2221 |
| Place of birth | Ascot Vale, Victoria |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Labourer |
| Address | 25 Empire Street, Footscray, Victoria |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 18 |
| Height | 5' 4" |
| Weight | 137 lbs |
| Next of kin | Father, J N Sargeant, 25 Empire Street, Footscray, Victoria |
| Previous military service | Served for 3 years in the 65th Bn, Citizen Military Forces, Footscray. |
| Enlistment date | |
| Place of enlistment | Melbourne, Victoria |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 23rd Battalion, 4th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/40/2 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A20 Hororata on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 23rd Battalion |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 23), 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 | 100 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Father: Mr J. Sargeant (as spelt), 25 Empire Street, Footscray, Victoria |
| Other details |
War service: Egypt, Western Front Admitted to No. 1 Auxiliary Hospital, Heliopolis, 30 October 1915 (rheumatism); discharged to duty, 5 November 1915. Taken on strength, 23rd Bn, Tel el Kebir, 11 January 1916. Proceeded from Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 19 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, 26 March 1916. Pay account charged 6/6d for cost of replacing hat, 29 April 1916. Found guilty, 13 May 1916, of hesitating to obey the order of an N.C.O., 12 May 1916: awarded 48 hours' Field Punishment No. 2. Wounded in action, 4 August 1916 (gun shot wound, right leg); admitted to 1st Canadian General Hospital, Etaples, 6 August 1916 (shell wound, left leg); transferred to No. 6 Convalescent Depot, 28 August 1916; discharged to duty, 30 August 1916; rejoined unit, Belgium, 23 September 1916. Wounded in action (2nd occasion), France, 7 November 1916 (gun shot wound, right hand); admitted to 38th Casualty Clearing Station, 8 November 1916; to 6th General Hospital, Rouen, 10 November 1916. Invalided to England, 11 November 1916; admitted to Reading War Hospital, 13 November 1916 (gun shot wound, right index finger).Transferred to 3rd Auxiliary Hospital, 19 April 1917; discharged on furlough, 21 April 1916. Proceeded oversas to France, 14 June 1917; rejoined unit, 8 August 1917. Wounded in action (3rd occasion), 4 October 1917; Court of Enquiry , 11 January 1918, concluded fate as 'died of wounds'. Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal Mother wrote (19 April 1918) re father being listed as NOK: ' I his father being next of kin and owing to that of course is getting his deferred pay and also a pension of 10/- per week. I consider this most unjust owing to the fact that my husband has not allowed me any maintenance for nearly thirteen years as I had to leave him through his drunkenness and cruelty. My son was very good in helping me before going to the front, but since then I have had no assistance whatever.' Mother committed suicide, 18 August 1918. |
| Sources | NAA: B2455, SARGENT Albert Frederick |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
