Richard Charles BASTIAN

BASTIAN, Richard Charles

Service Number: 2378
Enlisted: 23 June 1916, Enlisted at Melbourne
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 57th Infantry Battalion
Born: Bendigo, Victoria, Australia, 1875
Home Town: Northcote, Darebin, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Carpenter
Died: Died of wounds, Somme, France, 15 February 1917
Cemetery: Bernafay Wood British Cemetery, Montauban
Row K, Grave 40, Bernafay Wood British Cemetery, Montauban, Picardie, France
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

23 Jun 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2378, 57th Infantry Battalion, Enlisted at Melbourne
25 Sep 1916: Involvement Private, 2378, 57th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '20' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Shropshire embarkation_ship_number: A9 public_note: ''
25 Sep 1916: Embarked Private, 2378, 57th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Shropshire, Melbourne
13 Feb 1917: Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 2378, 57th Infantry Battalion, Wounds to the abdomen

Help us honour Richard Charles Bastian's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Carol Foster

Marital status when enlisting was given as Widower. Father of Ida Norman of Balgowan Place, Northcote, Victoria and Arthur Richard Bastian who was killed in action on the 28 May 1917 in the Messines while serving with the 38th Battalion and has no known grave

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks

Richard enlisted June 1916, and was taken on to the strength of the 57th Battalion on the 7th February 1917. He was mortally wounded, with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, only six days later on the 13th February, 1917, and died two days later. He was in fact born in White Hills in 1868, making him 59 years old at the time of his death. His nearest of kin was his daughter, Mrs. Ida Norman, of Northcote, Victoria.

In his service file held by the National Archives Australia, on page 34 is a letter from his daughter, replying to a request from Major Lean as to medal distribution, “…I only had one brother, and he was killed on the 28th May, 1917, A.R. Bastian number 1111, so you can see there is no one only me.  I suppose I will get one (plaque) for my poor brother as well as one for my Dad, or do my son get them he is the only son I have, yours faithfully, I.M. Norman, Collingwood, Victoria.”

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