The AIF Project

Charles McPhee DEWAR

Regimental number4099
Place of birthCarlbri, Victoria
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationLabourer
AddressNedlands Park, Western Australia
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation40
Height5' 9.75"
Weight142 lbs
Next of kinMother, Mrs Christina Dewar, Caporn Street, Nedlands Park, Western Australia
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date5 November 1916
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll13 November 1915
Place of enlistmentPerth, Western Australia
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name28th Battalion, 10th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/45/3
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Fremantle, Western Australia, on board HMAT A38 Ulysses on 1 April 1916
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll28th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 29 July 1916
Age at death from cemetery records43
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
112
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: David and Christine DEWAR, 25 Rupert Street, Subiaco, Western Australia. Born at Victoria
Family/military connectionsBrother: 836 Pte Frank Leslie DEWAR, 28th Bn, returned to Australia, 4 May 1917.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 29 May 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 5 June 1916.

Taken on strength, 28th Bn, 28 July 1916.

Reported Missing in action, 29 July 1916.

Court of Enquiry, 4 January 1917, confirmed fate as Killed in action, 29 July 1917.

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

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