MASON, Roy Richard
| Service Numbers: | 13, 5576 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 March 1915, 3 years RANR |
| Last Rank: | Sapper |
| Last Unit: | 1st Tunnelling Company (inc. 4th Tunnelling Company) |
| Born: | Hamilton, New South Wales, Australia, 22 January 1895 |
| Home Town: | Cooks Hill, Newcastle West, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Plumber |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 31 October 1917, aged 22 years |
| Cemetery: |
Menin Road South Military Cemetery Plot III Row K Grave 23 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Hamilton Superior Public School Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Newcastle Congregational Church |
World War 1 Service
| 5 Mar 1915: | Enlisted Royal Australian Navy, Petty Officer, 13, 1st Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train, 3 years RANR | |
|---|---|---|
| 4 Jun 1915: | Involvement Petty Officer, 13, 1st Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '24' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Port Macquarie embarkation_ship_number: A39 public_note: '' | |
| 4 Jun 1915: | Embarked Petty Officer, 13, 1st Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train, HMAT Port Macquarie, Melbourne | |
| 1 Jul 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Sergeant, Tunnelling Companies | |
| 6 Mar 1917: | Transferred AIF WW1, Sergeant, 1st Tunnelling Company (inc. 4th Tunnelling Company) | |
| 31 Oct 1917: | Involvement Sapper, 5576, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 5576 awm_unit: 1st Australian Tunnelling Company awm_rank: Sapper awm_died_date: 1917-10-31 |
Help us honour Roy Richard Mason's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Evan Evans
From Gary Mitchell, Sandgate Cemetery
Memorialised and awaiting memorialisation at Sandgate Cemetery, not forgotten.
105 years ago today, on the 31st October 1917, Sergeant (not Sapper) Roy Richard Mason, 1st Australian Tunnelling Company (Reg numbers 13 & 5576), boilermaker and plumber's apprentice (machinist, Government Public Works Department) from 19 Union Street, Cooks Hill, New South Wales, was Killed in Action by a high explosive artillery shell at Zillebeke, Belgium, 2nd Battle of Passchendaele, Passchendaele Campaign, age 21 years 8 months.
Born at Hamilton, New South Wales on the 22nd February 1896 to John Wilson (died 19.9.1917 of 32 Bibby Street, Hamilton Park, New South Wales and Sarah Grace Almeda Mason (died 1.2.1919, as Grace A Mason on Sandgate Cemetery database, sleeping at PRESBYTERIAN-9SW. 88.) of 32 Bibby Street, Hamilton Park, New South Wales, 1 of 10 children, Roy enlisted March 1915 with the 1st Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train, Reg No-13, at Melbourne, Victoria.
Admitted to hospital 22.9.1915 (pyrexia - increased body temperature above normal body temperature), 26.9.1916 (enteritis, slight - inflammation of your small intestine).
Roy had to return home on the 5th February 1916 (enteric fever).
Re-enlisted 29.8.1916, (Tunnelling & Mining Companies, October Reinforcements) Melbourne, Victoria.
Roy is resting at Menin Road South Military Cemetery, Belgium. Plot III Row K Grave 23.
Mr. Mason’s name has been inscribed on the Hamilton Superior Public School Roll of Honor, Newcastle Central Methodist Mission Roll of Honour (Board 1, unveiled on the 2nd January 1916, 7 names originally inscribed, 44 names now inscribed, 11 Fallen, Newcastle Museum are the custodians of Board 1 & 2 with a number of other Rolls of Honour, languishing in a storage facility at Maryville, N.S.W.), NSW Govt Railways and Tramways Roll of Honour, 1914-1919, Engineers' Roll of Honour and The Capt. Clarence Smith Jeffries (V.C.) and Pte. William Matthew Currey (V.C.) Memorial Wall.
Roy has been memorialised at his father’s gravesite. PRESBYTERIAN-4NE. 20.
Photos (see Photos section) taken September 2012, headstone has now toppled from base and cracked.
Awaiting memorialisation at his mother’s gravesite. PRESBYTERIAN-9SW. 88.
I have placed poppies at both gravesites in remembrance of their son’s service and supreme sacrifice for God, King & Country.
Contact with descendants would be greatly appreciated.
For more detail, see “Forever Remembered “
http://www.commemoratingwarheroes.com/cemetery-main-search/
Lest We Forget.
Biography contributed by John Oakes
Roy Richard MASON (Service Number 5576) was born in Newcastle on 22 January 1895. He enlisted in Melbourne, Victoria, on 12th May 1915, although the papers state the commencement of the engagement as being at Newcastle on 8th March 1915. Being unmarried he gave his mother, Sarah Grace, living in Newcastle as his next of kin, and claimed three years’ experience in the Royal Australian Naval Reserve.
His first tour to Europe was with the 1st Royal Australian Navy Bridging Train. His previous experience allowed him to be promoted to Leading Seaman, apparently before he formally enlisted, and to Petty Officer a week later. Aboard ‘Fort Macquarie’ he arrived at Lemnos (Greek island) on 21st July 1915. He was admitted to the 26th Casualty Clearing Station with pyrexia and transferred to the Hospital Ship ‘Neuralia’ and thence to the 21st General Hospital, Alexandria. The condition developed into enteric fever and Mason passed through the 3rd Auxiliary Hospital at Cairo, the Australian and New Zealand Convalescent Camp at Helouan, and the Enteric Convalescent Camp at Port Said, before he was returned to Australia for three months ‘change’ on HMAT ‘Ulysses’ on 3rd January 1916.
By October 1916 Mason had recovered and embarked again from Melbourne on the same ship, ‘Ulysses’. He was however now enlisted in the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company and had been promoted to Sergeant. The ship reached Plymouth on 28th December 1916 and by the end of January 1917 Mason proceeded overseas to France, joining the Tunnellers on 6th February.
He was killed in action in France on 31st October 1917 near Messines, and buried in the Menin Road South Military Cemetery, Ypres.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board.
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