Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

12/04/1916

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

08/10/1895

Place of Birth

Southport, Queensland

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

Southport Public School, Grammar School Southport

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Son of Ernest and Kate Freeman of Southport, Queensland

Burial Place

Sanctuary Wood Cemetery, Belgium plot 2, row H, grave 13

Final Rank

Lieutenant

Final Unit

42 Battalion AIF

Died (killed in action), Belgium on 31 July 1917 aged 21 years

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 135, Canberra ACT
Large stone tablet on outside of northern wall of St. John's Church, Reid ACT

Freeman entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 12 March 1914 and graduated along with the rest of his class on 3 April 1916. The following month he embarked for England as a Lieutenant in the 35th Battery, 9th Field Artillery Brigade but in France in January 1917 he was transferred to the 29th Battery, 8th Field Artillery Brigade and then to the 42nd Battalion in June 1917 just after the Battle of Messines. His unit was operating in the vicinity of Messines when, according to Bean, Freeman was killed during an attack by the 3rd Division on the Warneton Line near Kiwi Farm in Belgium on 31 July 1917. He was initally buried near Messines but his body was later re-interred at Sanctuary Wood Cemetery.

Description - height 5 feet 7½ inches, weight 148 pounds, chest 38 inches, Church of England.

AWM Roll of Honour Database
AWM Roll of Honour Circular
AWM Honours & Awards
Charles Bean, 'Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18' (Vol. IV p.721n)
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)