Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From How We Served

2946 Trooper Arthur Bernard Stanitzki of Pyap near Loxton, South Australia had been employed as a store assistant when he enlisted for War Service on the 12th of April 1916 and was allocated to reinforcements for the 9th Light Horse Regiment 1st AIF.

Within weeks of entering camp at Mitcham, Arthur was sent to isolation due to illness and was not embarked for Egypt and further training until the 24th of August. Having arrived in Egypt illness again caused Arthur’s field service to be delayed, and after being hospitalised at Moascar, and following his recovery he was sent to the 3rd Light Horse Training Regiment, which he would remain with until being sent to Zeitoun where he completed a course of instruction and was qualified as a signaller.

Arthur officially joined his Regiment in the field on the 25th of April 1917 but was again sent back to Cairo for hospitalisation on the 14th of May, and would not re-join his regiment until the 13th of August. Arthur’s service would be continuous until he was again evacuated due to illness having contracted malaria and he was admitted into hospital at Port Said on the 15th of September 1918. He was not returned to his Unit until the 8th of March 1919.

With the War now over Arthur was repatriated back to Australia on the 10th of July 1919, and received his official discharge from the 1st AIF on the 25th of September 1919, after which he was re-entered into civilian life and returned to his past occupation as a store keeper.

With the commencement of the 2nd World War, Arthur again enlisted for War Service during July 1941 and he was posted to the 4th Garrison Battalion. Ill health again caused Arthur to be evacuated for medical treatment and he was admitted into the Keswick Repatriation Hospital being diagnosed as suffering Toxic Polyneuritis due to which he succumbed, dying whilst in hospital on the 2nd of July 1942 at the age of 48.

Following his passing Arthur was formally laid to rest within West Terrace Cemetery, South Australia.

Arthur Bernard (Ben) Stanitzki was born at Parrot Hill, near Moculta, near Angaston on 11 September 1893 and attended school at Loxton, and then Immanuel College, Point Pass from 1910-1914.

Prior to enlisting in the 1^st AIF in 1916, Ben was working as a store assistant in a shop at Pyap, near Loxton.

Ben is thought to be the only Immanuel old scholar who served in the First World War. He served as a private with the 9^th Light Horse Regiment, sailing to Egypt in 1916. The next three years were spent in Egypt, Palestine and Syria. He was hospitalised with malaria in September 1918 and returned to Australia on 10 July 1919.

In 1925, he married Lurline Limbert at St Augustine’s Anglican Church, Unley, and continued as a shopkeeper, moving to Laura as manager of Eudunda Farmers general store in 1926.  

Ben served the Laura community in local government, and was a member of the Laura Hospital Board when the hospital opened in 1938.

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The Second World War saw Ben re-enlisting in July 1941. At time of re-enlistment in 1941 his occupation was listed as dry cleaner

He was posted to the South Australian based 4^th Garrison Battalion. The Garrison Battalions consisted of First World War veterans, and younger men, deemed unfit for active service; their task was to guard army bases and prison camps.

In February 1942 he was posted to a ‘Hunting Course’ but was admitted to Repatriation Hospital at Keswick in mid May 1942 suffering from Toxic Polyneuritis, a peripheral nerve disorder and he died on 2 July 1942. He is buried in the AIF Section of the West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide.

Ben is commemorated on the Laura War Memorial, the South Australian National War Memorial, Adelaide and on panel 78 of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.