Names of 18 Griffith residents who died during World War I are set to be immortalised on a plaque on the city’s Cenotaph.
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A new plaque has been created to recognise those killed, or who died from wounds.
Griffith RSL Sub-branch’s commemorations co-ordinator Terry Walsh said the Cenotaph was built at the start of World War II.
“The structure itself was the memorial for those who served in World World I but there were no names on it,” Mr Walsh said.
“After World War II the of the soldiers who died were added.”
Questions about why there were no World War I soldiers led to a research project by Theo Bollen in 2013.
The 18 men were all residents in what is now the Griffith local government area.
Mr Bollen used records from the Australian War Memorial, however because Griffith was gazetted as a town in 1916, he had to use the National Archives to find earlier records.
Among the men who will have their name on the Cenotaph is Henry Dingle, also known as Harry. Dingle, 21, served in the First Australian Field Ambulance after enlisting on April 8, 1915.
He had previously worked as a commission agent in Sydney but was enrolled on the Whitton Electoral Roll in 1913 with an address of Farm 55 at Griffith.
He was promoted to Second Lieutenant during his service and was recommended for the Military Medal on August 17, 1916 for his attention to the wounded and dedication to duty at the Battle of Pozières. Dingle died of his wounds, aged 23, on February 20, 1917.
Over five years Mr Bollen researched 139 soldiers from Griffith and received help from Margaret Tucker.
Mr Walsh, who has been vocal about the lack of names of World War I soldiers, said to see the project come to fruition “means a lot to me”.
The new memorial plaque has been designed from the first plaque added after World War II.
The plaque will be dedicated on the centenary of Remembrance Day, the research by Mr Bollen and Mrs Tucker will be made available to the public at the War Memorial Museum.
THE NAMES TO BE ADDED
- Ernst Baring
- Egerston Anson Corfield
- Hubert Aloysius Daly
- Arthur Ellis
- Edward James Ely
- Philip John Esmonde
- James Cameron Fraser
- James Norman Harcus
- Robert Cecil Jack
- John James Riley
- Charles Sole
- George Martin Wade
- Alan McGregor Whyte
- William Edward Wild
- Hector Oxford Williams
- Reginald Collins Worthington
- Edward Young