Somerset ANZAC Frank Gill KIA Gallipoli

[grantmal]

Hi All,

Any help or advice with sources of info for another UK-born 3rd Field Ambulance man greatly appreciated:

Frank Morley Gill, born Congresbury, 1891, emigrated to Australia in 1909, worked as a telephone linesman

with the Post Office in Perth, WA. Prominent player in the Perth YMCA football club, he even managed to play a final game with them on August 29, 1914, when on leave from camp:

"Shorn of his luxuriant curls, and looking like a convict in fancy stockings, he threw his weight about to some purpose, and our first goal came from his foot."

Pte Frank Gill, stretcher bearer of "C" Section, 3rd Field Ambulance, can be seen in the centre of the photo below, with white hanky in top pocket, a few weeks after his last appearance with YMCA:

Frank Gill landed at Gallipoli with "C" Section on April 25th, 1915. He was wounded in the hand by shrapnel in early June. On a lovely warm evening, August 22nd, 1915, he was sitting on the 'verandah' of the dugout he shared with Arnold Kemp, knife and fork in hand, waiting for Kemp to arrive for dinner. A shrapnel shell burst overhead, and Kemp arrived to find Gill lying in a pool of blood. He died within a few minutes and was buried in Beach Cemetery (bottom right of photo below).

Like fellow "C" Section stretcher bearer and Perth YMCA man Don Cadoux (see my other recent post), Gill wrote regularly to YMCA friends. Presuming he also kept in regular contact with his parents in Congresbury, can anyone suggest which local newspapers might have reprinted letters or carried a bio?

I have spoken to Gill's neice in Congresbury, and made some enquiries with the local Methodist Church.

Good on you,

Grant

[ceebee]

Grant

You're probably ahead of me here, but have you looked at his service record at the National Archives of Australia. See here

Unless I've overlooked something AWM doesn't appear to have much online information other than the usual role of honour, nominal role and embarkation details. The role of honour information has a small PDF file with some details on his school, occupation and age on reaching Australia.

Sue and Ron Austin's book The Body Snatchers: The History of the 3rd Field Ambulance 1914-1918 has a very brief reference to Gill's death.

By the way, isn't that John Simpson Kirkpatrick to Gill's right?

Cheers

Chris

[grantmal]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for that.

Yes, that is Simpson, hand to hat, alongside Gill. Between them is Charles Spurgeon, who died of wounds received at the Landing, and next to Simpson is Don Cadoux, killed at the Landing (both subjects of recent posts). The bloke on the left is Lachlan Denbigh, who won a DCM & was blinded by a head wound in Sept 1917.

Good on you,

Grant