Ellement, Victor Ernest

No.4803 – Private Victor Ernest Ellement – 48^th Battalion AIF

Victor Ernest Ellement was born in Geelong Victoria on the 10^th August 1890 to Charles and Mary Ellement, being one of six children. Victor attended Geelong West School but left this school when the family moved across to Western Australia. The family took up residence in Holland Street East Fremantle, though also lived for a time in Coogee. Victor began work as a French Polisher and continued in this occupation until he enlisted. He was known to his friends as “Smiling Peewee”.

Victor’s Brother Herbert had enlisted in early 1915 and had served with the 28^th Battalion on Gallipoli, where he was severely wounded by shellfire. Around the same time in Fremantle Victor enlisted into the AIF at the Perth Drill Hall. He was passed as fit with the medical examiner finding him to be 5 feet 5 & ¼ inches tall; weight of 143 lbs; chest measurement of 34-38 inches; fresh complexion; blue eyes and dark brown hair. His religious denomination was Wesleyan. After two months of service in the Depot, Victor was assigned to the 15^th Reinforcements to the 16^th Battalion on the 1^st February 1916.

The next few months were spent training in WA when they finally received their orders to depart. On the 1^st April 1916 Victor boarded the H.M.A.T. “Ulysses” in Fremantle Harbour and made their way overseas, arriving in Egypt on the 26^th April 1916.

Victor was marched into the 4^th Training Battalion and remained with them while he was in Egypt. On the 7^th June 1916 he embarked with this unit from Alexandria, bound for France. Arriving at Marseilles on the 14^th June 1916, Victor disembarked and was sent north to Etaples to join the 4^th Australian Division Base Depot. Victor left here on the 17^th July and was taken on strength of the 48^th Battalion who were then heading south to the Somme from Fleurbaix.

Victor fought with the 48^th during their time at Pozieres and Mouquet Farm and he was wounded by shrapnel in the foot on the 31^st August 1916. He was evacuated back to the 49^th Casualty Clearing Station and then the 3^rd Stationary Hospital at Rouen. His wound was assessed here and it was deemed serious enough for evacuation to England. On the 3^rd September 1916 he left France and arrived in England where he was admitted to the 3^rd Western General Hospital at Neath Glamorgan. He stayed in this hospital for over a month and on the 12^th October 1916 was transferred to the 3^rd Auxiliary Hospital. On the 6^th November he was discharged from this hospital and sent to No.4 Command Depot at Weymouth.

Victor returned to France on the 16^th January 1917 where he entered the 4^th Australian Division Base Depot at Etaples. The day after arriving he was sent to hospital sick with scabies, though had returned to the Base Depot by the 22^nd January. On the 27^th January he rejoined the 48^th Battalion in the vicinity of Flers.

On the 24^th February Victor reported sick and was sent to hospital where he remained until the 4^th March 1917. Rejoining the 48^th Battalion, he served with them through the Battle of Bullecourt in April and Messines in June. On the 7^th August he was transferred for duty with the 12^th Brigade HQ for two weeks. Victor then returned to the 48^th but was again seconded to the 12^th Brigade HQ on the 20^th September.

Victor was wounded in action on the 12^th October 1917 when a bullet hit his thigh during the 48^th’s advance on Passchendaele. He was evacuated to the 3^rd Field Ambulance and then to the 8^th General Hospital at Rouen. Unfortunately Victor’s condition worsened and he died on the 14^th October. The O.C. of the 8^th General Hospital wrote that Victor;

“was admitted to this Hospital just after midnight on 14.10.17 diagnosed with G.S.W. thigh. On admission he was found to have the symptoms of acute peritonitis and was too ill for an operation. He died 1 & ½ hours later. The wound in his thigh was a clean bullet wound but the bullet had travelled up his thigh into his abdomen causing acute peritonitis”.

Victor was given a military funeral and was buried in Bois Guillaume Communal Cemetery Extension France plot B.25B.

Victor’s great grandfather had been killed in the Franco-Prussian war.