Private Harry Cowdrey Lester

Private Harry Cowdrey Lester (2538, 57th Australian Infantry Battalion) was born at Lakes Entrance, Victoria, in 1899. He was working as an assistant restaurant keeper when he enlisted in January 1916 under the alias of Harry Charles Lester. Harry was working as a signaller in the Battalion Headquarters at Glencourse Wood during the Battle of Polygon Wood when the sap was hit by a shell and destroyed. He was buried where he fell but his grave could not be located after the war, so Harry is commemorated at the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium. His mother later wrote that Harry was aged 17 years 10 months at the time of his death.