Enlistment Address

Richmond, NSW

Service Number

6296

Unit

1st Battalion, 20th Reinforcement

Comment

Gilgandra Coo-ee

Fate

Returned to Australia 2.2.1919

Information

Private Albert Warren Pearce 6296

Albert first enlisted in Gilgandra on 9 October 1915 and marched to Sydney with the Coo-ees to train at Liverpool Camp. He had a vision defect and was discharged at Liverpool Camp in November 1915. Despite his vision impairment, Albert was successful when he enlisted in April 1916, at Dubbo, with the 46th Battalion. He stated he had served 6 years with the RAA (Royal Australian Artillery). He was examined and passed by Capt Burkitt of Dubbo and described as 5’11’, dark complexion, grey eyes, mid brown hair and his vision test was 6/30, 6/6, which meant the vision in his right eye was defective but the left eye was good.

Albert trained at Liverpool with the 1^st Battalion and embarked from Sydney on the Euripides on 9 September arriving in Plymouth, England on 26 October 1916.

Albert served at several camps and hospitals at Fovant, Larkhill, Durrington and Sutton Veny in England. In June 1917 he trained with the 17^th Field Ambulance which was disbanded four months later when plans for a 6^th Division were also abandoned. After attending the Australian Medical Corp Training Depot at Parkhouse, he was attached to the Group Hospital at Sutton Veny. He served in the Group Hospital at Sutton Veny, England until returning to Australia on the Karmala on 2 February 1919. Albert was discharged on 14 April 1919

Little is known of Albert but according to the NSW BDM Register, he was one of eleven children of Isaac and Jane Pearce of Richmond NSW and had a twin sister, Alice J. There is no record of a marriage and electoral rolls show he lived at Brewarrina and Dubbo from 1930 to 1949. There is a death recorded of a 75 year old Albert W Pearce at Liverpool on 8 June 1953 and buried in the Liverpool Cemetery.

Albert is commemorated on the Cooee Memorial Gateway and the Virtual War Memorial