Studio portrait of 53 year old 14827 Sergeant (Sgt) George John Parry, a railway employee from ...

Studio portrait of 53 year old 14827 Sergeant (Sgt) George John Parry, a railway employee from Brunswick, Vic. Sgt Parry enlisted on 21 August 1916 and was posted to the Army Medical Corps (AMC) Sea Transport Staff. He was discharged on 10 January 1917 but immediately re-enlisted for home service duty at Mcleod Camp, Vic, where he served as a Sergeant until 1920. Sgt Parry enlisted barely a month after two of his sons went missing during the battle of Fromelles (Fleurbaix). 320 Private (Pte) Frederick Parry, 29th Battalion and 1211 Pte Reuben Parry of the same unit went missing on the night of 19 July 1916. According to Reuben's report to the Red Cross the two met up close to the German lines and they decided that the severely wounded Frederick should try to return to the Allied lines. Reuben would stay with the remains of his unit and try to carry on but he was was captured shortly after and Frederick was never seen again. Later that year Frederick's family learned via the Red Cross that the Germans had recovered his body and had given him a Christian burial. In 2010 his remains were recovered from an unmarked mass grave and formally identified by the Fromelles Joint Identification Board. Pte Parry was then reburied at the new Commonwealth War Cemetery at Pheasant Wood. Reuben survived the war and was released in November 1918. See also P10186.001 and P10351.001.