Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

06/12/1915

Place of Enlistment

Casula NSW

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, England

Address (at enlistment)

Stanley Street, Sydney NSW (previously Duntroon ACT)

School(s) Attended

South Lambeth Road, London, England

Occupation

Cook

Next of Kin

Ellen Broomfield (mother), Leigh-on-Sea, England

Service Number

4374

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

18 Battalion AIF

Died on 15 April 1918, Hangard Wood, France

26 Villers-Bretonneux, France

Broomfield enlisted in December 1915 and arrived in the front line on the Somme, France in September 1916 with reinforcements for the 18th Battalion. He fought in battles at Flers, Bullecourt and Menin Road but he was court martialled in November 1917 after he was apprehended by the Military Police for failing to return from leave in September 1917. After being released from detention in January 1918, Broomfield rejoined the 18th Battalion but he was killed in action on 15 April 1918. His unit had attacked the Germans at Hangard Wood near Villers-Bretonneux in France and, after obtaining their objective, were digging in when Broomfield was fatally hit by machine gun fire during an enemy counter attack.

He had been employed as a cook at the Royal Military College, Duntroon prior to the war and before arriving in Australia had spent five years in the East Surrey militia.

Description - height 5 feet 4 inches, weight 122 pounds, fresh complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, Church of England, tattoos on his forearms.

Ross Howarth, 'Civilians employed at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon, from 1911 to 1931', RMC Duntroon, November 2000.
AWM Roll of Honour Circular
AWM Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Files
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)