Studio portrait of Corporal 3340 Eric Joseph Trestrail Foote, 49th Battalion. Foote was born in ...

Studio portrait of Corporal 3340 Eric Joseph Trestrail Foote, 49th Battalion. Foote was born in Buderim Mountain, Qld, and was a manager of a fruit farm in Ipswich, Qld, at the time of his enlistment on 27 July 1915. He sailed as a private with 11th Reinforcements, 9th Infantry Battalion, from Brisbane on HMAT Warilda on 5 October 1915. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on 4 April 1916, Corporal on 13 April 1916 and Sergeant in the field in France on 28 August 1916. He was wounded in action, returned to a dressing station to have his wounds dressed, but refused to remain at the station. Sgt Foote returned to his battalion to assist other wounded soldiers to reach assistance. His service file states that he returned numerous times to assistant wounded soldiers and provided leadership and encouragement to other soldiers. He was awarded the Military Medal posthumously on 19 April 1917 for bravery in the field. Sgt Foote was killed in action on 3 September 1916 at Monquet Fram, France, aged 25 years. This photograph was part of an Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau file. The Bureau, which commenced operation in October 1915, sought to identify, investigate and respond to enquiries made regarding the fate of Australian personnel. It investigated the majority of personnel posted as wounded and missing on official Army lists, as well as written enquiries from concerned relatives and friends. Approximately 32,000 individual case files were opened for Australian personnel who were reported as wounded or missing during the First World War. The Bureau employed searchers to operate both at the front and in Britain. They searched official lists of wounded and missing, interviewed comrades of missing soldiers in hospitals and wrote to men on active service. Altogether 400,000 responses were sent back to those who placed enquiries with the Bureau. (Same image held at H06538)