parsons, albert

Gosford District Casualties of World War One

Bragg, Edmund Allen Service Number 1494

Killed in Action 19th May 1915 Gallipoli Peninsula

Gosford District Casualties of World War One

Parsons, Albert Service Number 857

Killed in Action 4th May 1918 France

Gosford City Council gratefully acknowledges the voluntary efforts of

Benalyn Campbell

And Vivienne Tranter

in compiling this resource

The information in this file has been extracted from official records

held in the

The Australian War Memorial and

National Archives of Australia

(© Commonwealth of Australia [National Archives of Australia] 2013)

Further information on this soldier may be found online at:

Commonwealth War Graves

The AIF project

Content advisory: This file may potentially contain disturbing accounts of service-related injury and death, disease and family grief. Adult supervision is recommended for children

using these resources. Individual files should be viewed within the context

provided by wider research on service conditions in the 1st AIF.

This resource is presented by Gosford City Council

for research purposes only. Please note that copyright for resources

contained within remains with the original copyright owners.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/au/deed.en

NAME Parsons, Albert George Horace

SERVICE NO 857

UNIT 36th Battalion/ 54

th Battalion/62

nd Battalion/33

rd Battalion

RANK Private

AGE at Enlistment 42 yrs

PLACE OF BIRTH Ourimbah, NSW

ADDRESS Penang Mountain via Gosford

OCCUPATION Orchardist & Farm Labourer

DATE OF ENLISTMENT 19 Jan 1916

PLACE OF ENLIST-MENT

Liverpool, NSW

PREVIOUS SERVICE

NEXT OF KIN Brother;- Henry John Parsons, Johnston St. Annandale

PHYSICAL DESCRIP-TION

Height-5’3”. Weight-123lbs. Chest-32-35”. Complexion-Dark. Eyes-Blue. Hair-Black.

RELIGION C/E

EMBARKED 13 May 1916 Sydney-per A72 “Beltana”

DISEMBARKED 9 Jul 1916 Plymouth

NOTES 5 -20 Mar 1917- Furlo- England

WOUNDED/ILLNESS 1 Aug 1916- Hosp, Fango, Eng 23 Dec 1916-Influenza- France 25 Jan 1917- Rheumatism- transf. London 16 Feb 1918- Scabies- France-

DIED 4 May 1918- France

BURIED 4 May 1918- Heilly Station Cem. Mericourt L’Abbe Merricourt (Nr Corbie), France

MEDALS British War Medal-38882, Victory Medal-38565. Memorial Plaque -345148.

DEPENDANTS

PERSONAL EFFECTS Wallet, note book, badge, testament, letters, photos, cards,/

WILL

CORRESPONDENCE C R Seabrook Esq., Solicitor- Chatham House 105 Pitt St. Sydney/ Miss Carrie G Hastings, “Grasmere” Gosford/

Gosford Times 2nd November 1916 Soldiers' Letters Private A G H Parsons, of Penang, writes to a Gosford friend:- New Year's Day 1917. And your humble servant, far from home, sends back in mind many good wishes to dear old Australia, and, most of all, to the old town of Gosford. Who would have thought of the likes of me ever being here on such an expedition as this? I have now been "Somewhere in France" ***** three months, and more than half that time have I been well in the danger of the usual sort in the battle field. The sensation is far from pleasant when one finds himself for the first time close to the big guns that never seem to cease fir-ing. Day and night, it's just the same. And we have Fritz's shells blasting around us, but I've got used to it, to a certain extent. From the front line I have seen the Germans themselves, now and then, walking about on top of the trenches when they come out from their work. But this not too often, you bet. I have not as yet fired a shot, but have been in the thick of the fighting many times. Have met some of the Gosford boys, and it's quite a treat to see old faces out here. It's terrible work here, and one has to see war and its effects to under-stand what the horror really is. Still, I am by no means sorry I've come to do my bit, and feel my work here is not yet done. We must keep pegging away and fight to the bitter end, cost what it will. Conscription was de-feated in Australia when put to the people, but we are still doing our best here for our country and the Empire, and will carry on to victory or die in the cause of the just. We know that "life is real, life is earnest, and the grave is not the goal; dust thou art, to dust returnest, was not spoken of the soul." And with "heart within and God o'erhead." we are on the right side. Dear friends, all the best of good wishes for a brighter new year. Good bye, and God be with you till we meet again.- Private A G H Parsons (no A 857) A Company, 54 Battalion, AIF In France.

Gosford Times 1st February 1917 Soldiers' Letter Private Abe Parsons, of Penang, Gosford writes from "Somewhere in France" to a former resident, Mr Leslie Parr:- "I greet you with all good wishes for the Xmas now so near at hand. I know not if this may reach you before Xmas Day, but in any case it will serve the same thing. I hope and trust the New Year will be a better one than the last for us all. I have seen enough here to know that great sadness will be the lot of many thousands in this part of the world. Scenes that would turn the hardest of us to horror have come before us time and again. It is easy to read of these things, but to realise them one must see and hear for himself the actual effects. I have been over a good deal of the country where the fighting must have been fearful. For miles you see nothing but ruins where once stood towns and villages. Nothing now remains but heaps of bricks, stone and charred debris. Woods and forests have been reduced to a few dead trees and shattered stumps, with the ground pulverised by cannon shells. In the trenches we have seen soldiers die the deaths of heroes. So far I have come through all right, though I was struck by a small piece of broken shell the size of a shilling, but was not injured. We are up to our knees in mud and slush everywhere, except when we get to our rest camps, where it is quite bad enough at its best.

Gosford Times 11th October 1917 Pte A G H Parsons and Pte J B Ford, who were invalided to England some months ago, have now recovered, and are with their regiment at he front again.

Sydney Morning Herald 24th May 1918 pg. 6 ROLL OF HONOR PARSONS- Killed in action, May 4, 1918, Private Albert G H Parsons, of Gosford, loved brother of Mrs Morgan, The Glen, George-street, Penshurst.

Abridged record/s courtesy of the National Archives of Australia (NAA) Series No: B2455 Item Barcode: 8007452

parsons, albert

Documents

grasmere gosford gosford

gosford friend

france gosford city

old town of gosford

service conditions

scabies france

influenza france

albert service number