Can you help us identify Gordon?

Gordon Llewellyn Crossman was born in the Adelaide suburb of Bowden on 18 October 1893, the fifth and youngest son of Joseph Courtney Crossman and Alma Clark:

Gordon was educated at Brompton Public School. He was a talented elocutionist, and there are numerous reports in Adelaide papers of his participation in competitions and contribution to social events. He also appeared in amateur theatricals. He was a longtime member of the Tynte St (North Adelaide) Baptist Church Young Men’s class.

Gordon studied accounting at the University of Adelaide to obtain a Diploma of Commerce. His very good friend, 23-year-old Raymond Choat, was also doing accountancy at the University with Gordon. While studying, Gordon was working as a clerk in the Comptroller’s office of the South Australian Railways. He had previously been employed with Goode, Durant & Co and Wiseman Bros.

The South Australian Railways was one of the largest employers in South Australia and was encouraging of its employees, particularly those who were unmarried, to enlist. Given this, they were no longer selecting single men for employment. On 21 July 1915, almost certainly together, Gordon and Ray went to Keswick to enlist in the AIF. They were probably accompanied by the other clerks from the same office who enlisted on that day, Henry Siggins, David Hicks and Frank Hall. Adrian Nelligan had enlisted a few days earlier and Gomer Maslin the following week. Raymond’s two brothers, Wes and Archie also enlisted. (Read more about the Choat brothers here - Raymond Choat Soldier Story)

All were accepted into the AIF and reported to Mitcham Camp. Gordon, Ray Choat, Henry Siggins and Adrian Nelligan were all placed in the 32nd Battalion when it was formed on 9 August. Gordon was joined by Choat and Siggins in A Company, and Nelligan was in B Company.

A and B Companies were made up of recruits from South Australia and C and D Companies came from Western Australia. There was much fanfare about this new battalion in South Australia, with gatherings, community support, Cheer-up Society activities, reviews of the troops by the governor, and parades through the streets of Adelaide. On 16 September, the South Australians members of the Battalion moved to a new camp at Cheltenham Racecourse and the West Australians who had begun their training at Blackboy Hill near Perth joined them at the end of September. The full battalion training continued at Cheltenham until their departure.

On 4 October, the Railway Comptroller and staff held a presentation for Gordon and the other six men who had enlisted in July. Gordon, along with the others, were presented with a wristwatch and a money belt.

In September, Gordon’s married older brother, Fred, also enlisted and was assigned to the Field Artillery. Most of the 32nd Battalion, including Gordon, departed for Egypt on 18 November 1915, HMAT A2 Geelong (The transport section had left 10 days earlier on HMAT A13 Katuna.)

As reported in The Adelaide Register:

As the Geelong neared its destination in Egypt, a concert which highlighted the significant musical and theatrical talents in the Battalion was held on the ship’s promenade deck on 11 December. Gordon performed, giving a recitation of ‘Brother Sam’s Letter.’

Source - A Soldiers Singsong. (1916, February 8). The Register p. 6. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5980310

The 32nd arrived in Suez on 14 December 1915 and moved to El Ferdan just before Christmas. A month later they marched to Ismailia and then to the major camp at Tel-el-Kebir where they stayed for February and most of March. Tel-el-Kebir was about 110 km northeast of Cairo and the 40,000 men in the camp were comprised of Gallipoli veterans and the thousands of reinforcements arriving regularly from Australia. Their next stop was at Duntroon Plateau and then they were at Ferry Post until the end of May, where they trained and guarded the Suez Canal.

On 26 May, while at Ferry Post, Gordon was promoted, becoming a Corporal. Their last posting in Egypt was a few weeks at Moascar. One soldier’s diary complained of being “sick up to the neck of heat and flies”, of the scarcity of water during their long marches through the sand and he described some of the food as “dog biscuits and bully beef”. He did go on to mention good times as well with swims, mail from home, visiting the local sights and the like.

Source - AWM C2081789 Diary of Theodor Milton PFLAUM 1915-16, page 29, page 12

During their time in Egypt the 32nd had the honour of being inspected by H.R.H. Prince of Wales.

After spending six months in Egypt, the call to support the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front came in mid-June. The 32nd left from Alexandria on the ship Transylvania on 17 June 1916, arriving at Marseilles, France on 23 June 1916 and they then immediately entrained for a three-day train trip to Steenbecque. Their route took them to a station just out of Paris, within sight of the Eiffel Tower, through Boulogne and Calais, with a view of the English Channel, before disembarking and marching to their camp at Morbecque, about 30 kilometres from Fleurbaix.

Theodor Pflaum (No. 327) and Wesley Choat (No. 68), Ray’s brother, wrote about the trip:

They were headed to the area of Fleurbaix in northern France which was known as the ‘Nursery Sector’ – a supposedly relatively quiet area where inexperienced Allied troops could learn the harsh realities of Western Front trench warfare against the Germans. But the quiet times did not last long. Training continued with a focus on bayonets and the use of gas masks, assuredly with a greater emphasis, given their position near the front. The 32nd moved to the Front on 14 July and Gordon was into the trenches for the first time on 16 July, only three weeks after arriving in France.

On the 17th they were reconnoitring the trenches and cutting passages through the barbed wire, preparing for an attack, but it was delayed due to the weather. D Company’s Lieutenant Sam Mills’ letters home were optimistic for the coming battle:

The overall plan was to use brigades from the Australian Fifth Division to conduct a diversionary assault on the German trenches at Fromelles. The 32nd Battalion’s position was on the extreme left flank, with only 100 metres of No Man’s Land to get the German trenches. As they advanced, they were to link up with the 31st Battalion on their right. However, their position made the job more difficult, as not only did they have to protect themselves while advancing, but they also had to block off the Germans on their left, to stop them from coming around behind them. On the morning of the 18th, Gordon’s A Company and C Company went into the trenches to relieve B and D Companies, who rejoined the next day.

The Zero Hour for advancing from their front-line trenches was to be 5.45 PM, but the Germans knew this attack was coming and were well-prepared. They opened a massive artillery bombardment on the Australians at 5.15 PM, causing chaos and many casualties. Gordon’s A Company, along with C Company were in the first and second waves to go. B Company & D were in the third and fourth. The charge over the parapet began at 5.53 PM and Gordon’s A Company was in the first two waves. Gordon would have gone over at the head of his section. The men, despite heavy losses, were successful in the initial assaults and by 6.30 PM were in control of the German’s 1st line system (map Trench B), which was described as “practically a ditch with from 1 to 2 feet of mud and slush at the bottom”.

Source - AWM4 23/49/12, 32nd Battalion War Diaries, July 1916, page 11

Unfortunately, with the success of their attack, ‘friendly’ artillery fire caused a large number of casualties because the artillery observers were unable to confirm the position of the Australian gains. They were able to take out a German machine gun in their early advances, but were being “seriously enfiladed” from their left flank.

By 8.30 PM their left flank had come under heavy bombardment with high explosives and shrapnel. Return bombardment support was provided and the 32nd were told that “the trenches were to be held at all costs”.

Source - AWM4 23/49/12, 32nd Battalion War Diaries, July 1916, page 12

Fighting continued through the night. The Australians made a further charge at the main German line beyond Trench B, but they were low on grenades, there was machine gun fire from behind them from the emplacement at Delangre Farm and they were so far advanced that they were getting shelled by both sides. In the early morning of the 20th, the Germans began a counterattack from the Australian’s left flank, bombing and advancing into Trench A (map). Given the Australian advances that had been made earlier, the rear Trench E had been left almost empty, which then enabled the Germans to regain that trench and envelop the men of the 32nd. At 5.30 AM the Germans attacked from both flanks in force and with bombing parties.

Having only a few grenades left, the only resistance they could offer was with rifles:

What was left of the 32nd had finally withdrawn by 7.30 AM on the 20th. The initial roll call count was devastating – 71 killed, 375 wounded and 219 missing, including Gordon. To get some perspective of the battle, when Charles Bean, Australia’s official war historian, attended the battlefield two and half years later, he observed a large quantity of bones, torn uniforms and Australian kit still on the battlefield. The final impact was that 228 soldiers of the 32nd Battalion were killed or died from wounds sustained at the battle and, of this, 166 were unidentified.

Lieutenant Sam Mills survived the battle. In his letters home, he recalls the bravery of the men:

Gordon Crossman was killed during the battle. No record or eye-witness accounts exist to give any indication about what might have happened to him during the battle.

Notification of Gordon’s death was sent to the Military Commandant in Adelaide on 11 August. Soon after, his Baptist minister would have arrived at the Crossman home in Thirteenth St, Bowden to inform his parents that their youngest son had been killed. His family reported in the papers that they had been notified of Gordon’s death and inserted a brief biography and Gordon’s photo. The 26 August article stated, “he died for his friends.”

Source: Family Notices (1916, August 26). The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1889 - 1931), p. 14. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article6471979

The Crossman family would no doubt have been aware that Gordon’s workmates from the Comptroller’s office, Adrian Nelligan and Henry Siggins were listed as missing after Fromelles. Later, both men were revealed to have been captured on the morning of 20 July and they saw out the war in Germany as Prisoners of War. Ray Choat was also missing, although his anxious family was not officially informed of this until January 1917. He was only officially declared Killed in Action at an Enquiry in the Field in August 1917.

His family also acknowledged Gordon at the end of Ray’s write up in the newspapers:

“His brother, Wesley Choat, was taken prisoner on the same day as himself, and another brother, Archie Choat, made the supreme sacrifice, as did his dear friend, Gordon Crossman.”

Source - The Roll of Honor (1917, September 19). The Advertiser p. 7 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5554918

As the Crossman family was trying to come to terms with Gordon’s death, their grief was compounded on 10 December 1916, when their fourth son, Driver Fred Crossman, was killed in France. He was buried in Delville Wood cemetery. In the following years, family and friends remembered Gordon in “Heroes of the Great War” in memoriam notices. Included in these was one “In loving memory of my dear friend from ‘his friend, Dorothy Forster, Murray Bridge”. It is a reminder that the grief caused by a man’s death in the war was wider than the man’s immediate family, as young women mourned lost friends.

Adding to the family woes, Gordon’s older brother “Freddy”(13592), was killed by artillery fire on 10 December 1916 while at Meaulte, France, about 100 km south of Fromelles. Fred was in the 2nd Division Artillery. He is buried at the nearby Dellville Wood Cemetery.

Gordon’s family were never given any further details Gordon’s death. Because Base Records in Melbourne had received no extra information about him, they had nothing to tell his mother, so they did not contact her. All that the family knew was that he had been killed, but nothing more. They were never told where in France he had been killed, the circumstances of his death, or even that he had no known grave. The family requested a death certificate, through their lawyer, so that insurance and lodge claims could be settled. This confirmed his date of death but stated ‘No record available’ about where his death occurred.

The Crossman family had lost a son, but they had nothing to indicate where he lay. They, like many other families, remembered their lost sons on family graves in a local cemetery. The Crossman family grave is in the Hindmarsh Cemetery in Adelaide. Although he is not in this grave, it is the lost Gordon who is remembered prominently at the top of the inscription.

The inscription reads:

Freddy’s inscription is - “He has fought the good fight his duty nobly done.”

With no direct input from the Army as to where Gordon had been killed, his family believed that Gordon had died during the Battle of Pozières. Fought just after Fromelles, between 23 July to 3 September 1915, Pozières was a long and costly battle involving Australian troops, and about which there was much more public awareness.

It was not unusual, and understandable given the lack of information from the military about the events at Fromelles, for the family of a man lost at Fromelles, like the Crossmans, to assume that he must have been killed at Pozières.

Gordon was awarded three medals. The 1914-15 Star was for those who served in any war zone before the end of 1915. (The men in the Geelong disembarked in Egypt on December 18, 1915). The British War Medal was for men who completed 28 days service, or who were killed or wounded before serving 28 days. The Victory Medal was given to all members of Allied Forces. Gordon, like many single men, had nominated his mother as next of kin, and all communication from the military to the family during the war was addressed to Alma Crossman.

However, when it came to distribution of a dead man’s medals, the next of kin was not necessarily the recipient. The order of precedence was widow, eldest surviving son, eldest surviving daughter, father, mother, eldest surviving brother, eldest surviving sister, eldest surviving half-brother, eldest surviving half-sister. Alma Crossman did not reply, but Gordon’s father, Joseph, wrote to Base Records, waiving his right to the medals in favour of his wife, and the medals were sent to Alma.

Corporal Gordon Crossman’s name is inscribed on Panel 4 of the V.C. Corner Australian Cemetery Memorial at Fromelles which commemorates all the Australians killed at Fromelles whose bodies were not recovered after the battle.

Gordon is commemorated at:

Please visit Fromelles.info to follow the ongoing identification project and Gordon’s story.