Honouring Australian World War One Personnel
Name - Roy Stanley Cowle
Rank - Private
Official Number - 3069
Enlistment Date - July 26th, 1915
Regiment - 19th Battalion
AWWOD descendant - Greg Cowle
Service Detail - He enlisted at Liverpool and was allocated to the 7th Reinforcements of 19th Battalion. He left Sydney 20/12/15 arriving Egypt February 1916, just after all the troops had returned from Gallipoli. At this time, all infantry battalions were split due to losses of men. They retained half the original members and replaced the rest with new recruits, thereby doubling the amount of battalions in the AIF. As a result, Roy was transferred to the 4th Battalion. He arrived in Marsielles 30/3/16 as the first troops arrived in France, and joined his unit in the field 15/5/16.
He was wounded in action during the battle of Pozierres 25/7/16 where he received a gun shot wound to his right shoulder. He was then sent to England for treatment and received 96 hours detention for failing to salute an Officer of Her Majesty’s Forces (as his “saluting arm” would have been in a sling) and “telling lies” to MPs. Returning to France, he endured the fierce winter of 1916/17, the worst for 40 years. He was again wounded on 7/5/17 during the second battle of Bullecourt, receiving shrapnel to his back and a broken leg. After laying in No-Man’s-Land for three days, he was eventually picked up and sent to England, returned to Australia 25/11/17 and was discharged in May 1918. He died in 1963.
Members thoughts / recollections - I never met Roy as he moved moved away from Sydney when my grandfather (his brother) died before I was born. He was a plasterer and had worked for his father at his plaster factory in their hometown of Rockdale, where they produced detailed ceilings and cornices common to the houses of the era. He also worked on the State Theatre interior, producing the intricate detailed work we still see today.