The AIF Project

George Phillip CAIN

Regimental number4167
Place of birthSouth Melbourne, Victoria
ReligionRoman Catholic
OccupationLabourer
Address128 Napier Street, South Melbourne, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation23
Height5' 4"
Weight112 lbs
Next of kinFather, Mr M. Cain, Faussett Street, Albert Park, Victoria
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date27 July 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name7th Battalion, 13th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/24/4
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A64 Demosthenes on 29 December 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll7th Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularEnlisted 20 July 1915 - 7th Bn 13th Reinforcements; taken on strength 7th Bn 18 March 1916.
FateKilled in Action 22-25 July 1916
Place of death or woundingPozieres, Somme Sector, France
Age at death24
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsAustralian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France

Villers-Bretonneux is a village about 15 km east of Amiens. The Memorial stands on the high ground ('Hill 104') behind the Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, Fouilloy, which is about 2 km north of Villers-Bretonneux on the east side of the road to Fouilloy.

The Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux is approached through the Military Cemetery, at the end of which is an open grass lawn which leads into a three-sided court. The two pavilions on the left and right are linked by the north and south walls to the back (east) wall, from which rises the focal point of the Memorial, a 105 foot tall tower, of fine ashlar. A staircase leads to an observation platform, 64 feet above the ground, from which further staircases lead to an observation room. This room contains a circular stone tablet with bronze pointers indicating the Somme villages whose names have become synonymous with battles of the Great War; other battle fields in France and Belgium in which Australians fought; and far beyond, Gallipoli and Canberra.

On the three walls, which are faced with Portland stone, are the names of 10,885 Australians who were killed in France and who have no known grave. The 'blocking course' above them bears the names of the Australian Battle Honours.

After the war an appeal in Australia raised £22,700, of which £12,500 came from Victorian school children, with the request that the majority of the funds be used to build a new school in Villers-Bretonneux. The boys' school opened in May 1927, and contains an inscription stating that the school was the gift of Victorian schoolchildren, twelve hundred of whose fathers are buried in the Villers-Bretonneux cemetery, with the names of many more recorded on the Memorial. Villers-Bretonneux is now twinned with Robinvale, Victoria, which has in its main square a memorial to the links between the two towns.

Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
49
Other details

War service: Western Front

Taken on strength of 7th Bn, Serapeum, 18 March 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 26 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 31 March 1916.

Posted as missing in action, between 22 and 25 July 1916.

Court of Enquiry, held in the field, 16 June 1917, pronounces fate as 'Killed in Action, between 22 and 25 July 1916'.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, CAIN George Phillip

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