| Regimental number | 1706 |
| Place of birth | Rockland, St Peter, Attleborough, England |
| School | Public School, Attleborough, England |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Labourer |
| Address | 'Hazel', Wellington Street, Bondi, New South Wales |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 19 |
| Next of kin | Father, William Curson, c/o Hill Caermartha, Upper Manilla, New South Wales |
| Enlistment date | |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 30th Battalion, 2nd Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/47/2 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A35 Berrima on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Sergeant |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 45th Battalion |
| Recommendations (Medals and Awards) |
Military Medal Recommendation date: |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | Messines, Belgium |
| Age at death | 21 |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 21 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 27), 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 | 139 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: William and Ellen CURSON, 'Edgecombe', Telegraph Road, Pymble, New South Wales. Native of Rockland, St Peter, Attleborough, England |
| Medals |
Military Medal 'For meritorious service and devotion to duty near POZIERES from 6th/8th August, 1916. During most of that period the trenches were subjected to a very heavy bombardment. When his Section Commander was killed, he acted on his own initiative and took charge and superintended the repairing of the damaged trenches. By his courage and cheerfulness he got the utmost out of his men.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 62 Date: |
| Other details |
War service: Egypt, Western Front Medals: Military Medal, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
