Collection relating to the service of Charles Birtles DCM MM, 19th Battalion and Australian Flying Corps.

Studio portrait of Second Lieutenant (2Lt) Charles Arthur Birtles DCM, MM, AFC, originally with the service number 2117, 4th Reinforcements, 19th Battalion, of Sydney, NSW. Lt Birtles enlisted as a private on 9 April 1915 and embarked from Sydney aboard HMAT Argyllshire on 30 September 1915. For his work as a Lewis Gunner during the attack on Gird Trench, Flers, France, in November 1916 he was awarded a Mention In Despatches (MID). He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for his role in the No 1 Lewis Gun team in the attack on Noreuil, France, on 15 April 1917, when he was largely credited with breaking up the enemy attack. On 9 October 1917 he was in charge of the Company's Lewis Guns during the action at Daisy Wood, east of Zonnebeke, near Ypres, and was awarded the Military Medal (MM) for his selfless actions. He was also promoted to sergeant. Birtles transferred to the Australian Flying Corps and trained as a pilot with Sopwith Snipes and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1919. The Armistice was declared before he was granted an operational posting however, and he returned to Australia in May 1919. He enlisted again during the Second World War serving as a lieutenant with service number N75439 with 1 Pioneer Training Battalion at Wallgrove, NSW.