| Accession Number | P08392.003 |
|---|---|
| Collection type | Photograph |
| Object type | Black & white - Print silver gelatin |
| Maker |
Unknown |
| Place made | Belgium: Flanders, West-Vlaanderen, Messines, Neuve Eglise |
| Date made | c 1920s |
| Conflict |
First World War, 1914-1918 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
Original cross in Kandahar Farm Cemetery marking the grave of 9544 Sapper (Spr) Samuel Francey, ...
Description
Original cross in Kandahar Farm Cemetery marking the grave of 9544 Sapper (Spr) Samuel Francey, 11th Field Company Australian Engineers, of Brisbane, Qld. A boilermaker prior to enlistment, Spr Francey embarked with Number 4 Section from Adelaide on HMAT Suevic on 31 May 1916. On 6 July 1917 he was killed in action in France, aged 23. Kandahar Farm was near the village of Wulverghem, and for much of the war the front line ran a little east of the village. The cemetery was used by Commonwealth divisions who held this sector from November 1914 to April 1918, when it fell into German hands with the capture of Wulverghem and Neuve-Eglise. These villages were recaptured in September 1918 allowing the cemetery to be used again. This photograph, probably taken late in the war or in the 1920s, shows signs of damage to the cross from bullets or shrapnel probably from the fighting in 1918.