Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

03/11/1914

Date of Discharge

22/04/1917

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

13/04/1894

Place of Birth

Mulgrave, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Algernon Combes (father), Moonee Ponds, Victoria

Final Rank

Captain

Final Unit

14 Battalion AIF

Combes entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 7 March 1912 and graduated early on 2 November 1914. He was a member of the guard of honour at the naming ceremony at Canberra on 12 March 1913. Combes landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and fought with the 14th Battalion at the head of Monash Valley where he was shot in the chest on 2 May 1915. He was promoted to Captain while recovering in hospital in Egypt and spent the next year in a staff role in England. He returned to Australia in April 1917 and his appointment was terminated because he was medically unfit for active service. Combes served in World War 2 as a Colonel in Headquarters of the AMF. He was Commandant of the Royal Military College, Duntroon from 1942 to 1945. Combes Road at RMC is named after him.

Description - height 5 feet 9½ inches, weight 160 pounds, chest 35-39½ inches.

Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Honour Guard at the Canberra Commencement Ceremony', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial
AWM Collections Record: 120547