Gracie, Frank Valentine

No.1041 – Private Frank Valentine Gracie – 25^th Battalion AIF

Frank Valentine Gracie was born in Melbourne in 1886 to a Gertrude Herring. His actual father was a Charles Herring however he died in 1888 and his mother soon remarried a John Gracie in Fremantle. John Gracie took Frank and his sister, Eva Gracie under his wing as their mother deserted them and left for the eastern states after being caught having an affair. Frank went to Fremantle Boys School and after leaving there he took up work with East Fremantle Town Council. Frank soon was taught the brewing trade by his step-father and he started work for Castlemaine brewing in Riverside Road East Fremantle. He spent much of his spare time yachting on the Swan River.

For work purposes in 1914 Frank left for Queensland and took up work in Brisbane. He was still there when he enlisted into the AIF on the 7^th May 1915. The medical examiner passed Frank as fit and found him to be 5 feet 5 inches tall; weight of 146 lbs; chest measurement of 35-37 inches; fair complexion; blue eyes and fair hair. His religious denomination was Presbyterian. Frank was assigned to “B” Company of the 25^th Battalion with the rank of Private and the regimental no.1041. He embarked with this unit from Brisbane on the 29^th June 1915 aboard the H.M.A.T. “Aeneas”.

The 25^th Battalion arrived in Egypt in August 1915 and didn’t remain there long as on the 4^th September the boarded a transport ship in Alexandria and left for Gallipoli. After arriving at Anzac they were spent the remaining three months of the campaign on the battlefield. Frank served with the unit through this time and evacuated with them in late December 1915. By the 9^th January 1916 they were back in Egypt. On the 21^st January 1916 Frank got into trouble for going absent without leave for four days and for also disobeying an order from a senior officer. He was given twenty eight days detention as a punishment.

On the 14^th March 1916 the 25^th Battalion boarded a troopship in Alexandria and departed for France, arriving at Marseilles on the 19^th March 1916. After arriving the men were put onto trains and sent to the north of France, near Armentieres. They had their first experience of the Western Front near Fleurbaix. On the 29^th March 1916 Frank again went absent without leave. As a punishment he was again given 28 days of field punishment no.2. He had only just finished his last punishment when on the 6^th May 1916 he went absent without leave for ten hours. He was awarded another bout of 28 days of field punishment no.2.

The military life must not have agreed with Frank as on the 29^th June he absented himself from the 25^th Battalion and only returned on the 4^th July 1916. The CO of the 25^th Battalion must have had enough as this time Frank was sentenced to two years hard labour. This punishment was confirmed by Brigadier James Paton on the 17^th July 1916. While all the administration of this punishment went through Frank remained with the Battalion and went with them to the Somme. He fought with the 25^th Battalion at Pozieres as part of the Machine Gun section of the Battalion. He survived the battalion’s first assault on the 29^th July but was killed in action on the 4^th August 1916.

Ironically if Frank had survived this battle he would have been sent to prison to start his two years of hard labour. Frank has no known grave and is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial to the Missing.

After Frank’s death, despite the fact that she had not taken a role in Frank’s life for more than ten years, his mother tried to claim a pension and his personal effects. The step Father Mr. J.A. Gracie wrote to authorities to let them know that the mother had played no role in bringing up Frank and any effects should go to his sister who was a school teacher in Mount Lawley WA. The sister Eva also stated that Frank had never recognised his mother after she deserted the family. Frank’s sister ended up receiving his personal effects and war medals. Eva, died in Albury NSW in 1928.