GAMBLE, Harold Edmund
| Service Number: | 906 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 24 July 1916, Sydney, NSW |
| Last Rank: | First Class Air Mechanic |
| Last Unit: | No. 4 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps |
| Born: | Leadville, near Mudgee, NSW, 11 July 1893 |
| Home Town: | Leadville, Warrumbungle Shire, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Leadville Public School |
| Occupation: | Bank Clerk |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 22 October 1917, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" |
| Memorials: | Arras Flying Services Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bank of New South Wales Roll of Honour Book |
World War 1 Service
| 24 Jul 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 906, No. 4 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, Sydney, NSW | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Jan 1917: | Embarked First Class Air Mechanic, 906, No. 4 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Omrah embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 22 Oct 1917: | Involvement 906, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 906 awm_unit: 71 Squadron Australian Flying Corps awm_rank: Air Mechanic Class II awm_died_date: 1917-10-22 |
Help us honour Harold Edmund Gamble's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
AROLD EDMUND GAMBLE, the son of Mr. Joseph and Mrs. Emily Gamble, was born in Leadville, near Mudgee, N.S.W., on 11th July, 1893. He received his education at the Leadville Public School.
Joining the Bank’s staff at Gulgong, N.S.W., on 28th June, 1911, Harold Gamble was transferred in the following August to Coonamble, and a year later to the Head Office.
He enlisted at Victoria Barracks, Sydney, on 24th July, 1916, as a wireless operator in the 4th Squadron of the Australian Flying Corps. While training in England he became a second air mechanic in the Royal Flying Corps, and was sent to France on 20th August, 1917, with the 71st Squadron of the R.F.C.
Soon after his arrival in France, Harold Gamble was temporarily attached to the 105th Howitzer Battery as a receiver of wireless messages. With that battery he took part in the action at Westhoek Ridge, near Ypres, and on 22nd October, 1917, was resting in a "pill-box” behind the line. While there a German shell hit the window and burst in the pill-box, the concussion killing Harold Gamble instantly.
The instructor at the wireless school in Sydney, who was associated with Harold Gamble up to the time he went to France, says that no one of his men stood out more prominently as a good Australian. “I always felt that the influence of a young man such as he was, always tended towards the happiness and pleasure of his companions. . . . He was a thinking fellow, with a correct and steady vision of the things that mattered, and his actions always coincided with his ideas.”
He was buried in the Australian portion of the cemetery at Oodurdum, a few miles from Ypres.
Source - Bank of NSW Roll of Honour
Click images to start slideshow.