PAULINE McGilvray never knew her uncle who died in the disastrous Battle of Fromelles, but 100 years to the day after his death she gets emotional at the thought of his sacrifice and the effect of the tragedy on her family.
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Lieutenant Henry John ‘Roy’ Hall perished in no-man’s land sometime between July 19 and July 20, 1916.
He was an officer in the 54th Battalion, which was part of an offensive against the German enemy near the French village of Fromelles, also known as Fleurbaix.
Lieutenant Hall was one of more than 5500 soldiers in the 1st Australian Imperial Force’s 5th Division who died or were wounded in the attack described as the worst 24 hours in Australia’s entire history.
A Private in Lieutenant Hall’s company said he saw him go down under shrapnel fire halfway across the German lines on July 19.
“He fell backwards and put his hand to his right breast as though wounded there,” the Private wrote.
A Corporal in the company said he heard Lieutenant Hall cry out after he was wounded: “I am done for, go on boys and get some of your own back”.
Mrs McGilvray on Tuesday visited a memorial at Uranquinty unveiled by her grandmother, Florence, in 1919 in honour of Uranquinty boys who did not make it home from World War I.
She clutched a picture of her uncle.
“I did not have a good night,” Mrs McGilvray said.
“I feel a little bit sad.
“It could be because of my daughter Carolyn finding his grave in France and me reading about how my family felt when he died and how they always put a memorial notice in the paper every year for many years.
“It has all come together at once and today is the big day.”
Lieutenant Hall first served as a Private in the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force that captured German assets in New Guinea at the start of WWI.
He then enlisted in the 1st AIF and arrived in France on June 29, 1916.
His battalion was in the first wave of assault at Fromelles and lost 65 per cent of its strength – 20 officers and 518 other ranks.
Following a Court of Inquiry in December, 1916, Lieutenant Hall was declared killed in action sometime on July 19-20.
He was just 22 years old.
