Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

08/01/1916

Date of Discharge

02/07/1919

Place of Enlistment

Melbourne, Victoria

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

24/07/1897

Place of Birth

McMahons Reef NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Corowa NSW (previously Duntroon ACT)

Occupation

Engineer

Next of Kin

Francis Holten Grayling (father), PO Corowa NSW

Service Number

14678

Final Rank

Gunner

Final Unit

14 Field Artillery Brigade AIF

Grayling lived at Duntroon with his father before the war and probably worked as a plumber on the construction of the Royal Military College. He served in the artillery in France from February 1917 and was posted to the 54th Battery of the 14th Field Artillery Brigade as a Gunner. He was probably a witness to the shooting down of Manfred von Richthofen (the Red Baron) near Corbie, France in April 1918 because the 14th Field Artillery Brigade were positioned in the area and members of the Brigade have been credited by some historians with shooting him down (refer to 'Who shot the Red Baron?' in the Stories from the ACT Memorial web site). Grayling died on 23 November 1985 and was cremated in Beechworth, Victoria.

Description - height 5 feet 4½ inches, weight 118 pounds, chest 31-35 inches, fresh complexion, grey eyes, brown hair, Catholic.

NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Queanbeyan Age - 4 June 1912, 14 June 1912, 22 July 1913
Canberra & District Historical Society - photograph number 1043
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'Who shot the Red Baron?', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial