Additions will be checked before being published on the website and where possible will be forwarded to the person who submitted the original entries. Your contact details will not be forwarded, but they can send a reply via this messaging system.
please scroll down to send a message
Pte. Frances Richard Merifield
Australian Imperial Force 21st Battalion
from:Romsey, Victoria, Australia
Frank Merifield is one of 348 names on a World War 1 signature quilt from Victoria, Australia. This is his story compiled from his military record.
Frank enlisted on the 1st of February 1916 at Trafalger in Gippsland, They had been living at nearby Thorpdale. His wife Eva, was noted as his next of kin and Frank initially put her address down as Romsey but was later changed to Strathmerton, Vic when she returned to live near her family. One month after enlisting Frank entered camp at Ascot Vale, in A company, 10th Depot Battalion. On 25th March 1916 he was transferred to Williamstown for 3 days. A week later he embarked at Melbourne per HMAT A14 Euripides. On the quilt Frank's rank is shown as Signaller. He never held this rank. He was always a Private. Some troops disembarked from the Euripides in Egypt. The 29th Battalion reinforcements disembarked in Suez on 12th May 1916 and the 60th Battalion reinforcements in Alexandria on 25th May. There is no mention in his records where Frank disembarked. As the 21st Battalion had moved from Egypt to France in March, it is likely the reinforcements went on to England and the training camps on Salisbury Plain.
The next entry in his file is in England when he transferred from No 1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Harefield to the Military Convalescent Hospital, Epsom on 13th July 1916 after pneumonia. When he had been admitted to hospital in the first place is not noted. The Woodcote Park Military Convalescent Hospital, Epsom, was staffed by the Canadian Army Medical Corps. The original 500 beds in September 1915 grew by August 1916, when Frank was there, to 3800 beds. Soldiers, including Frank, spent 6 weeks here on a graduated programme of recovery, under military discipline, which built them back up to full fitness. After the 6 weeks he is discharged and marched into No 1 Command Depot at Perham Downs. He spent two and a half weeks there before returning to duty on 12th September 1916 with the 6th Training Battalion.
In mid-December Frank made it to France. He joined his Battalion on 17th December 1916. His time with the Battalion was short as only three and a half weeks later on 10th January 1917 he reported sick and was admitted to the ANZAC Casualty Clearing Station with a septic forefinger. By the 14th January when he is admitted to the 10th General Hospital in Rouen, France the infection has spread to his forearm. The infection didn't improve and he was embarked for England on HMHS St Andrew on the 31st January and admitted to the Southwark Military Hospital, East Dulwich. Frank was finally discharged on 5th March. He reported to No 1 Command Depot at Perham Downs on 20th March, after 2 weeks furlough.
Frank was transferred to the 65th Battalion for 6 months returning to the 21st on 19th September 1917. On 4th December Frank proceeded overseas to France and rejoined his Battalion in the field. It is 9 months before there is another entry in Frank's file. On 1st September 1918 he is wounded in action and admitted to 9th Australian Field Ambulance with a severe gunshot wound to his thigh. The following day he was transferred to the 6th General Hospital at Rouen, France, then transferred to England on HMHS Carisbrooke Castle on the 5th September. Frank spent seven weeks at the Voluntary Aid Hospital, Cheltenham before being transferred to the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Dartford for a few days. Two months after being wounded he was discharged to No 2 Command Depot at Weymouth. A month later, on 3rd December, he moved to No 1 Command depot at Sutton Veny to await his return to Australia. Frank departed England on 17th March 1919 on HMHS Plassy and arrived in Melbourne on 30th April 1919.
