|
|
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies.
If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.
Site Home
Help & FAQs
Features
Submissions
Information
Advertisements
World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great 1914 1918 first battalion regiment
Pte. David Bernard Harford
Australian Imperial Force 28th Infantry Battalion
from:Australia
(d.31st Mar 1917 )
David Bernard Harford was born at Albany, Western Australia, on 28 October 1886. His mother would later state that "he was born in a spring cart at Albany after us doing a journey of [fourteen] hundred miles." Previous to the First World War, Harford had distinguished himself as a capable rifleman, winning several prizes in rifle club competitions while also taking up work as a miner and general labourer. The 28-year-old enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force on 14 July 1915 and departed Fremantle with the 28th Infantry Battalion aboard HMAT Miltiades on 12 February 1916.On arriving in Egypt Harford noted in his diary his surprise at seeing gum trees lining some of the streets in Cairo. After being sent to England for further training he was deployed to the Western Front with the 51st Infantry Battalion. The unit fought its first major battle at Mouquet Farm in August and September where it suffered huge casualties. For the remainder of 1916 and throughout the bleak winter Harford and his battalion alternated between front-line duty, training, and labouring behind the line. During this time he continued to document his experiences at the front in his diary. Early the next year the Australian forces in France cautiously pursued the German Army as it withdrew to the heavily fortified Hindenburg Line. On 31 March 1917 Harford sustained a gunshot wound and died that same day whilst being treated by the 5th Australian Field Ambulance. David Bernard Harford is buried at Pozières British Cemetery at Ovillers-La Boisselle, France.
Related Content:
Can you help us to add to our records?
The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them
Did your relative live through the Great War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial?
If so please let us know.
Do you know the location of a Great War "Roll of Honour?"We are very keen to track down these often forgotten documents and obtain photographs and transcriptions of the names recorded so that they will be available for all to remember.
Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice.
Celebrate your own Family History
Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Great War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc.
Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.
The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers.
This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions.
If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running.
Hosted by:
The Wartime Memories Project Website
is archived for preservation by the British Library
Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV
- All Rights Reserved -We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.
