Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

04/11/1915

Date of Discharge

22/06/1919

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

05/10/1894

Place of Birth

Ballarat, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Flora Crombie (wife), Ballarat, Victoria

Final Rank

Captain

Final Unit

53 Battalion

Crombie entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon in March 1913. He and his classmates were spectators at the naming ceremony for Canberra on 12 March 1913. He graduated from RMC on 28 June 1915 along with the rest of his class and was appointed as a Lieutenant with the 31st Battalion. Crombie married Flora McKenzie from Buninyong near Ballarat on 5 November 1915 before he embarked overseas four days later. He arrived in France via Egypt as a Captain with the 53rd Battery of the 14th Field Artillery Brigade and then commanded a trench mortar battery from October 1916 until January 1917 when he was appointed as a Staff Officer. He served with the 54th Battalion during an enemy attack in April 1918 at Villers Bretonneux where he moved his Company from support to cover the right flank of the battalion which had become exposed. Although he was recommended for a Military Cross for relieving a critical situation, Crombie did not receive any awards. He served with the 53rd Battalion from July until the end of the war. He died in Heidelberg, Victoria in 1979 aged 85 years.

The AWM image shows Crombie on board the HMAT Wandilla with other officers of the 31st Battalion.

Description - height 5 feet 5¾ inches, weight 149 pounds, chest 38 inches, Presbyterian.

AWM First World War Unit Embarkation Rolls
AWM Honours & Awards
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)
AWM Collections Record: A03377
The Argus (Melbourne) - 13 November 1915
Victoria Births, Deats and Marriages - www.online.justice.vic.gov.au/bdm/indexsearch.doj