ALLEN, Ernest
| Service Number: | 2615 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 5 July 1916, Bunderberg, Queensland, Australia |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 49th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Gin Gin, Bundaberg, Queensland, date not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Bundaberg, Bundaberg, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Gin Gin State School, Queensland, Australia |
| Occupation: | Grazier |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 25 April 1918, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery Panel 147 No known grave, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bundaberg War Memorial, Gin Gin War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 5 Jul 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Bunderberg, Queensland, Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Oct 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 2615, 49th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '19' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Ceramic embarkation_ship_number: A40 public_note: '' | |
| 7 Oct 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2615, 49th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ceramic, Sydney |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Josiah, James and Ernest Allen, three sons of William and Sarah Jane Allen of Gin Gin, Bundaberg Queensland, all enlisted on the same day in July 1916. All three joined the 49th Queensland Battalion. The three brothers all left Australia on the same ship in October 1916, and arrived in England in November 1916. They were sent to France on the 8th January 1916 and all three joined the 49th Battalion in the field. Josiah, the youngest brother, and James Edward Allen were both killed during the Battle of Messines in Belgium on the 7 June 1917.
The surviving brother Ernest tried to locate the whereabouts of the map reference of his brother’s grave but had no success. He was sent to hospital in August 1917 with trench fever and rejoined the 49th Battalion in February 1918, by now well aware that both his brothers were dead. Having difficulty in contacting him, another brother wrote to the AIF in late November 1916, “Private Ernest Allen has received neither mails nor parcels, although we write regularly weekly, and have sent several parcels. Private Ernest Allen has been under the doctor, off duty, for about 2 months, and is now convalescing. The fact that he can get no news from home, in connection with the fact of his brothers’ tragic fate, plays on Pte. Allen’s mind and greatly grieves him…”
Private Ernest Allen was killed in action on the 25th April 1918, the third anniversary of the first Anzac Day. His body was also never recovered, and his name is remembered on the Australian National Memorial Villers Bretonneux in France.
Biography
49 Battalion
Rank - Private
Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal
An expert horseman and rifle shot or marksman being champion for Wide Bay during 1914
Son of William and Sarah Jane Allen. Born at Gin Gin, Bundaberg, Queensland. Brother of 2614 Pte Josiah Allen, 49th Bn, killed in action, 7 June 1917. James Edward Allen 7 June 1917
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