Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

15/11/1915

Place of Enlistment

Casula NSW

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

London, England

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Steward

Next of Kin

H.J. Potter (brother), Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Burial Place

France 511 Peronne Communal Cemetery Extension

Service Number

4248

Final Rank

Private

Final Unit

20 Battalion AIF

Died (killed in action) on 31 August 1918, Mont St. Quentin, France aged 38 years

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 92, Canberra ACT

Gerald Potter arrived in Canberra in about 1913. He was initially employed as a steward at the Bachelors Quarters in Acton but moved to the Royal Military College in August 1915. He embarked for overseas in March 1916 as a Private with the 10th reinforcements to the 20th Battalion. He joined the 20th Battalion in France in July 1916 but received a gun shot wound to his right arm at Pozieres in early August. He was treated in England and rejoined his unit in December 1916. He was wounded in action a second time on 3 May 1917 at the Second Battle of Bullecourt with a gun shot wound to the right thigh and shoulder. Again he was transferred to England for treatment and rejoined his unit in November 1917. He was killed in action on 31 August 1918 during an attack made by his battalion on the German position at Mont St. Quentin, near Peronne when he was hit by a piece of shell.

Description - height 5 feet 6 inches, weight 144 pounds, chest 38 inches, dark complexion, blue eyes, dark brown hair, Catholic.

Ross Howarth, 'Civilians employed at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon, from 1911 to 1931', RMC Duntroon, November 2000
National Archives (A202) 1914/4381 Full names of Officers and Employees, Federal Territory Salaries Register
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
AWM Roll of Honour Database