The AIF Project

Harold Windermere CHUGG

Regimental number2466
Place of birthFranklin Village, Tasmania
SchoolEast Launceston State School, Tasmania
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationFarmer
AddressRelbia, Tasmania
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation21.4
Height5' 8.5"
Weight152 lbs
Next of kinFather, A T Chugg, Relbia, Tasmania
Previous military serviceServed for 3 years in the Senior Cadets.
Enlistment date6 July 1915
Place of enlistmentClaremont, Tasmania
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name26th Battalion, 5th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/43/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Hobart, Tasmania, on board HMAT Ballarat on 9 September 1915
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll26th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 5 November 1916
Place of death or woundingFrance
Age at death19
Age at death from cemetery records19
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
107
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Alexander Tasman and Annie Elizabeth CHUGG, Belmont, Relbia, Tasmania
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Taken on strength, 26th Bn, Gallipoli, 9 December 1915.

Disembarked Alexandria from Mudros, 9 January 1916 (general Gallipoli evacuation).

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 15 March 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 21 March 1916.

Admitted to No 3 Canadian Field Ambulance, 2 September 1916 (urine test); discharged to duty same day; rejoined unit, in the field, 4 September 1916.

Killed in action, 5 November 1916.

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
Miscellaneous detailsSecond given name incorrectly entered on Embarkation Roll as Wisterman.
SourcesNAA: B2455, CHUGG Harold Windermere

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