Arthur, Charles Alfred

No.4983 – Private Charles Alfred Arthur – 28^th Battalion AIF

Charles Alfred Arthur was born in Melbourne Victoria in 1893 to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Arthur. The family soon moved to Western Australia and they took up residence at 168 Marmion Street Fremantle. Charles was educated locally and after leaving school he gained employment as a Wood turner.

On the 1^st February 1916 Charlie went to the Swan Barracks in Perth to enlist in the AIF. He was passed as fit for service with the medical examiner recording his physical attributes as; Height of 5 feet 5 & ¼ inches; weight of 126 lbs, chest measurement of 31-34 inches, fair complexion, grey eyes and fair hair. His religious denomination was Wesleyan.

Charlie was then sent to Blackboy Hill Camp where he was allotted to No.50 Training Depot. On the 4^th April 1916 he was then assigned to the 13^th Reinforcement group to the 28^th Battalion AIF. He trained with this group in WA for the next few months and in mid July they received their embarkation orders. On the 18^th July 1916 Charlie and his group boarded the HMAT Seang Bee and set sail for England. The sea journey took just under two months as they disembarked in Plymouth on the 9^th September 1916. After being disembarked Charlie and his group were marched into the 7^th Training Battalion at Rollestone Camp on the Salisbury Plains.

There would be a further two months of training for Charlie in England. On the 16^th November 1916 he proceeded with a draft of soldiers for France and was sent into the 2^nd Australian Division Base Depot at Etaples. He spent a further two weeks here and on the 4^th December 1916 he was taken on strength of the 28^th Battalion in the field on the Somme battlefield near Flers. Two days later he reported sick and he was diagnosed with mumps. He was initially sent to the 39^th Casualty Clearing Station and was then transferred to the 25^th General Hospital at Rouen. He remained in hospital until the 4^th January 1917. Charlie was then transferred to the 2^nd Convalescent Depot, and he eventually rejoined the 28^th Battalion on the 18^th January 1917.

For the next two months the 28^th Battalion were in the Somme sector undergoing the freezing winter conditions. On the 8^th March Charlie was sent to hospital sick though he returned to his unit a week later.

At this time of the war the Germans were withdrawing from their positions on the Somme front and the Australians were following up. On the 26^th March the 28^th Battalion were involved in an attack on the village of Lagnicourt. During this advance Charlie was wounded in the thigh which necessitated his evacuation to hospital. He was sent to England in early April and admitted to the 3^rd Southern General Hospital. On the 11^th May Charlie was well enough to be granted a fortnight leave though after reporting back he was kept in the Command Depots in England as his fitness was not yet at a level to return to France.

Over the next few months Charlie was given several fitness examinations but by September he was only still classed as a C3 fitness level. It was then decided to send Charlie back to Australia as his thigh injury was not improving enough to return him to France.

On the 24^th October 1917 Charlie boarded the Hospital Ship Port Lyttleton and sailed back to Western Australia, disembarking in Fremantle on the 5^th December 1917. He was then sent to No.8 Australian General Hospital in South Terrace Fremantle for a medical check up. Charlie was then discharged from the AIF on the 21^st December 1917.

In 1918 Charlie married Gladys Needle in Fremantle and a daughter from the marriage, Edna, was born in 1919.