SANDERS, Victor Joseph
| Service Number: | 502 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 26 August 1914, Toowoomba, Queensland |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 9th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Warwick, Queensland, 7 September 1880 |
| Home Town: | Toowoomba, Toowoomba, Queensland |
| Schooling: | North Toowoomba State School |
| Occupation: | Overseer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Gallipoli, Gallipoli, Dardanelles, Turkey, 25 April 1915, aged 34 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" No known grave, Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Lone Pine Memorial to the Missing, Toowoomba Roll of Honour WW1, Toowoomba War Memorial (Mothers' Memorial) |
World War 1 Service
| 26 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 502, Toowoomba, Queensland | |
|---|---|---|
| 24 Sep 1914: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 502, 9th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Brisbane embarkation_ship: HMAT Omrah embarkation_ship_number: A5 public_note: '' | |
| 24 Sep 1914: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 502, 9th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Omrah, Brisbane | |
| 25 Apr 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 502, 9th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, Declared by Court of Inquiry as Killed in Action |
Help us honour Victor Joseph Sanders's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Paul Trevor
Private Victor Joseph Sanders' nephew, was Lieutenant Charles Fortescue (/explore/people/281609) who also served in the 9th Infantry Battalion, who ended the war with the rank of a Major and earning himself the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and Military Cross (MC) for conspicuous gallantry and commanded his company with the greatest courage and skill.
'Victor Charles Sanders was a member of Queensland’s 9th Battalion, one of those men who arrived in wooden boats just before dawn on that first Anzac Day 100 years ago. Before the morning was out, perhaps even before the sun rose fully over the Gallipoli Peninsula he was dead, his life sacrificed in the Empire’s cause.
Vic Sanders, as he appears to have been known, was not a fresh-faced young man, just looking for adventure. He had been born in the Queensland country town of Warwick 33 years and 11 months previously. Although Warwick-born his family had lived in Toowoomba for a while because he’d been educated at North Toowoomba State School. By the time he enlisted, Vic had also travelled beyond Australia’s borders. His Roll of Honour Circular states that immediately before signing up he had been the “manager of (a) plantation in New Hebrides” and his attestation file lists his occupation as an “overseer”.
Victor Charles Sanders stood 5ft 9½ inches tall and weighed 10 stone 11½ lbs: in current measurements, that’s 176cm and 78 kg. He had a dark complexion, possibly from his time in the tropics, and brown eyes and hair. He enlisted on 26 August 1914, and was given the regimental number of 502 and allocated to the 9th Battalion, a Queensland unit. His parents were Thomas Harrison Sanders and Elizabeth Keith Sanders. At the time of enlistment, Victor listed his mother as next-of-kin, living with her daughter, Emily Elizabeth and son-in-law Charles Fortescue, a jeweller in Toowoomba.
Meanwhile Victor’s nephew, 21 year old Charles Fortescue had already applied for a commission on 17 August and was also attached, as a Lieutenant, to the 9th Battalion. Later notes in Vic’s file indicates that he was attached to D Company, the same as his uncle and this is confirmed by the Embarkation Rolls at the Australian War Memorial (AWM).' READ MORE (cassmob.wordpress.com)
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