The AIF Project

Alfred John SYRETT

Regimental number5766
Place of birthLondon, England
True Namevon HOFEN, Alfred John
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationDairy farmer
AddressThe Poplars, Bellingen River, New South Wales
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation21
Height5' 5.125"
Weight136 lbs
Next of kinFather, R Syrett, 18 Solomon's Lane, London, England
Enlistment date15 February 1916
Place of enlistmentLismore, New South Wales
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name1st Battalion, 18th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/18/4
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A55 Kyarra on 3 June 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll1st Battalion
FateKilled in Action 2-5 October 1917
Age at death from cemetery records22
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 7), 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
31
Other details

War service: Western Front

Embarked Sydney, 3 June 1916; failed to re-embark Durban, South Africa, 1 July 1916.

Marched out to 1st Training Bn, Perham Downs, 1 September 1916.

Dound guilty, Perham Downs, of (1) being out of bounds; (2) attempting to travel on a train without a pass: awarded 168 hours' detention.

Proceeded overseas to France, 16 September 1916; joined 1st Bn, in the field, 1 October 1916.

Wounded in action, 5 November 1916 (gun shot wound, left hand, left buttock), and admitted to 45th Casualty Clearing Station; transferred to Ambulance Train No 7, 6 November 1916, and admitted to 22nd General Hospital, Camiers, 7 November 1916; transferred to England, 11 November 1916, and admitted to No 2 Auxiliary Hospital, Southall; marched in to No 2 Command Depot, Weymouth, 19 November 1916.

Found guilty, 3 January 1917, of overstaying furlough from 3 pm, 27 December 1916, until 8.45 pm, 2 January 1917: awarded 7 days' confined to barracks, and forfeited 7 days' pay.

Proceeded overseas to France, 16 January 1917; rejoined 1st Bn, in the field, 8 February 1917.

Admitted to 2nd Australian field Ambulance, 25 February 1917 (scabies), and transferred to Casualty Clearing Station, and then to Scabies Hospital; to Divisional Rest Station, 13 March 1917; to 45th Casualty Clearing Station, 29 March 1917 (eczema); to Ambulance Train No 30, 1 April 1917, and admitted to 3rd Stationary Hospital, Rouen, 2 April 1917; to Convalescent Depot, 2 April 1917; to Base Depot, Etaples, 11 April 1917; rejoined Bn, in the field, 18 April 1917.

Admitted to 8th Field Ambulance, 1 May 1917 (carbuncle, back), and transferred to 9th Casualty Clearing Station; to Ambulance Train No 16, 2 May 1917, and admitted to 5th General Hospital, Rouen, 3 May 1917; transferred to No 2 Convalescent Depot, 30 May 1917; rejoined Bn, in the field, 25 June 1917.

Killed in action, Belgium, 25 October 1917.

Statement, Red Cross File No 2680909, 6537 Pte C.W. MANSELL, D Company, 1st Bn, 26 April 1919: 'Informant states they both belonged to D. Company, No. 16 Platoon. On 4/10/17 the Battalion was in action near Zonnebeke. They hopped over at 6 a.m. That night about 7 p.m. after the objective had been taken and the Battalion were behind the front line, Fritz was evidently preparing for a counter attack which, however, did not come off, but he sent over some shells - one which buried about 8 men including Syrett with the result that Syrett and another man were killed. Informant came to the spot after the men had been dug out and saw Syrett. Informant heard volunteers asked for to bury the two men, but was not present at the burial as he had other duties to perform, but he was told, however, that Syrett was buried where he fell.'

Second statement, 4963 Pte H.E. SLATER, D Company, 1st Bn, 3 July 1919: 'On the 5th October, the day after our big stunt, we were in a trench, and I was then right alongside of him. I saw a shell burst, it blew in the parapet of the trench, killing Syrett and another man. I helped to bury him just outside the trench.'

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, SYRETT Alfred John
Red Cross File No 2680909

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