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23rd Battalion, Australian Imperial Force
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| Want to know more about 23rd Battalion, Australian Imperial Force? There are:-1 items tagged 23rd Battalion, Australian Imperial Force available in our Library
These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.
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Lt. Frederick James Kirkwood MM. 23rd Battalion Frederick Kirkwood was awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field on 3rd of April 1917.
On 20th of May 1918 Fred was wounded in the thigh and invalided to England.
By 30th of September 1918 he had been discharged from hospital, he proceeded to France and rejoined his battalion on 6th of October.
On 29th of November (age 28 yrs) he was admitted to 6th Field Ambulance and transferred to 53rd Casualty Station suffering with influenza and broncho pneumonia. On 2nd of December 1918 his nearest of kin were advised he was dangerously ill with broncho pneumonia and on 9th Dec he was in 8th General Hospital at Rouen, France. On 13th Dec he was sent from France to London aboard the hospital ship Aberdonian with severe influenza and the following day he was admitted to 3rd London General Hospital, Wandsworth with severe influenza. By 18th Dec 1918 his condition at Wandsworth, England, was improving. He recovered and on 7th Feb 1919 he sailed aboard HMT Lancashire to Australia and
his employment with Forces terminated on 15th May 1919.
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Pte. Harold Wilson 23rd Btn. Harold Wilson was a private on the 23rd Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Australian Division. He suffered a gunshot wound to his left temple on 1st of November 1917 and was admitted to the Eastbourne Military Hospital on 5th November.
He remained there until 3rd of December 1917 when he was transferred to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital in Dartford.
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Pte. Robert Mactier VC 23rd Btn. (d.1st Sep 1918)  Robert Mactier was killed in action 01/09/1918, aged 28 and buried in the Hem Farm Military Cemetery in France.
He was the son of Robert and Christiana J. Mactier, of "Reitcam", Tatura, Victoria, Australia
An extract from the London Gazette dated 13th Dec. 1918, records the following:- "For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty on the morning of 1st September, 1918, during the attack on the village of Mont St. Quentin. Prior to the advance of the battalion, it was necessary to clear up several enemy strong points close to our line. This the bombing patrols sent forward failed to effect, and the battalion was unable to move. Pte. Mactier single-handed, and in daylight, thereupon jumped out of the trench, rushed past the block, closed with and killed the machine gun garrison of eight men with his revolver and bombs, and threw the enemy machine gun over the parapet. Then, rushing forward about 20 yards he jumped into another strong point held by a garrison of six men who immediately surrendered. Continuing to the next block through the trench, he disposed of an enemy machine gun which had been enfilading our flank advancing troops, and was then killed by another machine gun at close range. It was entirely due to this exceptional valour and determination of Pte. Mactier that the battalion was able to move on to its ' jumping-off ' trench and carry out the successful operation of capturing the village of Mont St. Quentin a few hours later."
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Lt. Irving Russell Flett 23rd Battalion (d.28th Jul 1916)  Irving Russell Flett was born at Albert Park, Victoria on 23rd of September 1887. A salesman, Flett lived in Brighton, Victoria with his parents and a brother, Walter. Flett was appointed as second lieutenant in the newly raised 23rd Battalion on 24th of March 1915. Flett departed Melbourne aboard HMAT Euripides on 10 May 1915. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 26th of August 1915, just before the 23rd Battalion landed at Gallipoli on the 4th of September 1915. The battalion were soon manning the difficult and dangerous trenches at Lone Pine which they occupied alternately with the 24th Battalion, until the evacuation in December 1915.
Following the evacuation, Flett was sent, via Egypt, to France with the 23rd Battalion. The battalion experienced a relatively gentle introduction to the Western Front via the Armentières sector in northern France in April 1916. However, the battalion was to experience substantial casualties during the horrific battles of Pozières and Mouquet Farm in July. Flett was amongst these casualties and was killed in action on 28 July 1916 at Pozières, France, aged 29. Irving Flett was buried on the battlefield near the ruins of Pozières and is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France.
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Gnr. Eric Burgess 23rd Btn (d.4th Oct 1917) Eric Burgess was born in Geelong, Victoria in 1896 and worked as a post office clerk before the outbreak of the First World War. He enlisted briefly in August 1914 but was discharged due to illness. Burgess was successful on his second attempt, enlisting in the 2nd Reinforcements of the 23rd Battalion on 17 May 1915. He departed Melbourne aboard HMAT Demosthenes on 16 July 1915 and was fighting in the trenches at Gallipoli only a few months later.
In November 1915, Burgess was wounded and evacuated to Malta for recuperation, returning to his Battalion, now in France, in March. After several months in France with the 23rd Battalion, Burgess was "claimed" by his brother, Joseph Bird Burgess, and transferred to the 53rd Battery of the 14th Field Artillery Brigade. In April 1917, Burgess was wounded again, this time being removed to England to recover, and remained in hospital until August when he returned to the Battery. During the fighting at Passchendaele, on 4 October 1917, Eric Burgess and Joseph Burgess were both killed whilst operating the same gun. He and his brother are buried at The Huts Cemetery, Belgium.
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