The AIF Project

Robert Douglas ANDERSON

Regimental number2452
Place of birthAuburn, Victoria
SchoolCamberwell State School No 888, Victoria
Other trainingSwinburne Technical College, Victoria
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationEngineer
Address8 Roseberry Street, Auburn, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation18
Height5' 6.75"
Weight156 lbs
Next of kinFather, F H Anderson, 8 Roseberry Street, Auburn, Victoria
Previous military serviceServed for 4 years in Cadets, 48th Bn, Citizen Military Forces.
Enlistment date10 May 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll26 May 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name8th Battalion, 7th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/25/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A64 Demosthenes on 16 July 1915
Rank from Nominal RollSergeant
Unit from Nominal Roll60th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 5 September 1916
Age at death from cemetery records19
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsV.C. Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial, Fromelles, France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
169
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Frederick and Emily ANDERSON, 8 Rosebery Street, Auburn, Victoria
Other details

War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front

Joined 8th Bn, Gallipoli, 23 november 1915.

Appointed Lance Corporal, 8 December 1915.

Disembarked Alexandria, 7 January 1916 (general Gallipoli evacuation).

Appointed Temporary Corporal, 7 February 1916.

Transferred to 60th Bn, 24 February 1916.

Promoted Sergeant, Ferry Post. 25 March 1916.

Detached to Zeitoun School of Instruction for duty, 29 March 1916; rejoined Bn, Duntroon Plateau, 23 April 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 18 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 29 June 1916.

Reported missing, 19 July 1916.

Previously reported missing, now reported killed in action, 19 July 1916.

Red Cross File No 91004 has statement from 1655 Pte E.H. APSEY, 60th Bn (patient, Middlesex Hospital, Clacton-on-Sea, England), 3 January 1917: 'Informant ['Eye-witness: Yes'] states that on 19th July 1916 at Fleurbaix, Roy (sic) Anderson was killed by gun shot about 6 p.m.'

Second statement, 2896 Pte Charles Pickering Goode MAYHEW, 59th Bn, 28 February 1917: 'He went over in the charge of B.VIII in the second wave at Fleurbaix on 19th. July. He got wounded about 150 yards from our parapet. I was lying in a shell hole about 20 yards away. He was calling out "Shoot me, shoot me!" About 3 p.m. a shell came across and blew him away. I saw his clothes go into the air. I crawled past on my way back that night. There was no trace of him. He must have been blown to pieces.'

Note on file: 'No trace Germany. Cert. by Capt. Mills 10-10-19.'

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, ANDERSON Robert Douglas
Red Cross File No 91004

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