"Far away from the land of the wattle, he lies in a hero's grave"
CRABBE, Keith George Wallace
CRAIKE, Charles Henry
CRANE, Stanley Combermere
CRAVEN, Norman
George embarked with his unit from Sydney on 2 May 1916 per HMAT Hororata for a training camp at Tel-el-Kebir in Egypt for AIF reinforcements. After a brief period there, he was transferred to the Engineers Training Depot at Brightlingsea in Essex, England. From there he went to France. George wrote home about a number of dangerous missions he was involved in, with one of these leading to his tragic death on 30 April 1918. He was buried under a wooden cross in the chalk pits near Villers-Bretonneux. Although there is a photograph of his grave, the inscribed cross was destroyed during later battles and so his burial place is unknown, one of many among those at Villers-Bretonneux with the inscription “A Soldier of the Great War — Known unto God”.
Courtesy of Douglas E Booth
Courtesy of Douglas E Booth