Westergaard, Laurence

3006 Lance Corporal Laurence Clement Westergaard – 48^th Battalion AIF

Laurence Clement James Westergaard was born in Milang South Australia in 1897 on the 17^th September 1889 to James and Agnes Westergaard. He was one of several siblings, William (1889), Alfred (1890), Horace (1893 & died 1893), Ernest (1894), Olive (1895), Horace (1899), Robert (1900), Irene (1906), Beryl (1908) and Evelyn (1912).

After spending his early years in Victoria, the family moved to Western Australia and took up residence in John Street North Fremantle.

On the 1^st November 1916 Laurence enlisted into the AIF. The medical examiner passed his as fit for service and recorded his physical attributes as;

Height – 5 feet 6 & ¾ inches tall;

Weight – 145lbs;

Chest measurement – 34-38 inches;

Complexion – Fresh;

Eyes – Blue;

Hair – Brown.

After his successful enlistment Laurence was sent to Blackboy Hill Training Camp where he was assigned to the 7^th Reinforcements to the 48^th Battalion. On the 9^th November 1916 Laurence boarded the HMAT Argyllshire in Fremantle Harbour and set sail for England, arriving at Devonport on the 10^th January 1917.

On arrival in England, Laurence and his group were marched into the 12^th Training Battalion at Codford Camp on the Salisbury Plains.

Laurence spent the next six months in England and only joined the 48^th battalion in Belgium on the 21^st June 1917.

On the 8^th August 1917, Laurence was wounded when shrapnel struck him in the buttock. After a while in hospital in France he rejoined the 48^th Battalion on the 6^th October 1917. He was serving with the Battalion at Passchendaele when his brother Ernest was killed on the 12^th October 1917.

Laurence served through 1918 and came through unscathed and had been promoted to Lance Corporal. On the 2^nd November 1918 he was transferred to the Australia Corps Working Party. He remained with this unit until February 1919 when he was sent back to England.

On the 21^st June 1919 Laurence embarked on the transport ship Kongin Louise and sailed for WA, disembarking in Fremantle on the 3^rd August 1919.

On the 16^th October 1920 he married Daisy Graves in Fremantle and they would go on to have three children, Ernest (1921), Reginald (1923) and Ethel (1929).

The family initially lived in Ainslie Road North Fremantle and Laurence worked as a shop assistant.

In 1924 the family moved to Serpentine and by the 1940’s were in Kalgoorlie.

Laurence and Daisy soon returned to the Fremantle area.

Laurence Westergaard died on the 1^st December 1981

 (Photo below Laurence and Ernest Westergaard)