Name
Frederick William Beech
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
12/09/1918
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
5343
Australian Infantry, A.I.F.
53rd Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BRIE BRITISH CEMETERY
IV. G. 3.
France
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Hitchin War Memorial, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin
Pre War
Wartime Service
He enlisted in the 53rd Battalion A.I.F. in Sydney on the 25th August 1915 and was given the Regimental Number 5343. He trained as a Lewis gunner in a trench Mortar Battery and sailed on the ‘Ceramic’ on the 13th April 1916 from Sydney. Frederick went to Egypt where he stayed for two-months before being transferred to France.
He had his first and only leave in the U.K. in September 1917.
He was in action many times and had been gassed, buried in a trench and received a gunshot wound near his eye. He was accidentally killed whilst under instruction with a Lewis gun when the instructor fired a live round which penetrated Fred's chest and he died within half an hour.
He was buried in the British Military Cemetery at St. Crie near Peronne on the 14th September 1918, although the C.W.G.C. records that on 12th September 1918, he was buried in Plot N, Row G, Grave 3 in the Brie British Cemetery, Somme, France.
Additional Information
His brother Herbert served with the Royal Field Artillery. The Australian digital war memorial records an association with Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.
Acknowledgments
David C Baines, www.awm.gov.au, Jonty Wild