BN Band members & front line service

[clarke]

G'day

Hoping someone may be able to help with this, have a family member who served in an infantry unit (AIF) from 15-19 as a pte. This soldier has no record of ever being wounded. During this time his Bn would have fought at Somme 1916, Pozieres, Bullecourt, Messines 1917, Ypres 1917, Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Passchendaele, Ancre, Albert, 1918, Hindenburg Line, Epehy, so to not be wounded would be surely very lucky. I have however recently come across a photo of his Bn's band in 1918 and he is a member.

My question is;

Would being a band member restrict the amount of frontline service a soldier had to partake in with this helping to explain his 'luck', or did band members experince no exclusion from frontline service?

Cheers Clarke

[River97]

Clarke,

From what I can gather they did the same amount of time in the trenches as any other Infantry soldier. Many, if not, the vast majority, were trained as Infantry, however, many were employed as Stretcher Bearers during their time in the line.

Cheers Andy.

[clarke]

Thanks Andy

Fairly wet here in Cairns, hows Townville?

His service records record that he was disiplined in Oct 1916, 'in the field' for eating his spare rations and he was at the front when his brother was hit, however to survive all those encounters without a scratch is, though not heard of, very lucky. Does anyone know if there exists company/platoon rolls/records of AIF infantry BN. This may help to determine which battles he was involved in.

[River97]

Hi buddy,

No rain here, dry, sunny and hot. Just like Townsville is though. Ah well, only five weeks to go and then off on posting to Adelaide for three years.

I have found a link from the AWM here for all the war diaries you can poke a stick at.

Cheers Andy.