Company Quartermaster Sergeant Ernest Douglas Pinkard

Service number 480
Ranks Held Company Quartermaster Sergeant, Corporal
Birth Date 1894-09-27
Birth Place Australia: Tasmania, Leith
Death Date 1981-08-16
Death Place Australia: Tasmania
Final Rank Company Quartermaster Sergeant
Unit 40th Australian Infantry Battalion
Places
Conflict/Operation First World War, 1914-1918
Description

Ernest Douglas Pinkard was born at Leith, Tasmania on 27 September 1894 to parents Alfred Pinkard and Harriet Pinkard nee Shackloth. With an older brother and sister, he also had three younger brothers. Pinkard was five years old when his father died in 1899.

At the time of enlisting in the Australian Imperial Force, Pinkard was working as a postal assistant at Launceston, Tasmania. He had previous service with A Company, 92nd Infantry and had been rejected for military service due to teeth issues. He enlisted on 22 February 1916 at Claremont, Tasmania and was assigned to the 40th Battalion. This was approximately 6 months after his brother, Walter Webster Pinkard, enlisted on 6 August 1915 and embarked with the 12th Battalion.

Pinkard was promoted to corporal on 22 May 1916 and embarked from Hobart with the 40th Battalion, aboard HMAT Berrima on 1 July 1916. He proceeded to France on 23 November 1916 where he was promoted to sergeant approximately a month later. On 17 May 1917, he was transferred to 10th Training Brigade in England where he stayed until 19 December 1917. He rejoined his unit in France on 26 December 1917. It appears that he was appointed Company Quarter Master Sergeant on 18 June 1918.

Pinkard returned to Australia aboard Wahehe and departed England on 10 May 1919. Pinkard married Frances Grace Hooker at Launceston, Tasmania on 27 June 1928. The couple had three sons, Walter Douglas; David and Ernest Bruce. His wife, Frances, died on 23 October 1951.

Ernest Douglas Pinkard died on 16 August 1981 and is buried at Longford Cemetery, Tasmania.

Rolls

Timeline

Date of birth 27 September 1894
Date of enlistment 22 February 1916
Date of embarkation 01 July 1916
Date returned to Australia 10 May 1919
Date of death 16 August 1981