Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

16/07/1917

Date of Discharge

12/09/1919

Place of Enlistment

Sydney NSW

Gender

Male

Place of Birth

Melbourne, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Canberra ACT

Occupation

Surveyor

Next of Kin

Bishop John Francis Stretch (father), Newcastle NSW

Service Number

20299

Final Rank

Sapper

Final Unit

2 Field Company Engineers AIF

Stretch was the son of the Anglican Bishop of Newcastle. By 1915 he was working as a surveyor's field assistant to Frederick Johnston in the Federal Territory and was given an "absolute exemption" from military service in October 1916 because his brothers were at the front. Nonetheless he enlisted in July 1917 in Sydney with the Engineers' reinforcements. He embarked in November 1917 serving in France as a Sapper with the 2nd Field Company Engineers from October 1918. He attended the Survey School for a course under the Education scheme in February 1919 before returning to Australia in August 1919. He was discharged on 12 September 1919 in Sydney. Stretch died on 28 January 1982.

Description - height 5 feet 11 inches, weight 140 pounds, chest 33-37 inches, dark complexion, blue eyes, dark hair, Church of England.

National Archives (A202) 1914/4381 Full names of Officers and Employees, Federal Territory Salaries Register
Queanbeyan Age - 3 November 1916
Sydney Morning Herald - 3 February 1982
Image courtesy of Althea De Salis
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)