Robert Charles Scotland

Service number: 5873

Rank: Private

Unit: 18th Battalion (Infantry)

Service: Australian Army

Date of death: 9 August 1918

Cemetery or memorial details: Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, France

War Grave Register notes: SCOTLAND, Pte. R. C., 5873, M.M. 18th Bn. Australian Inf. 9th Aug., 1918. XII. A. 8.

Source: AWM145 Roll of Honour cards, 1914-1918 War, Army

Robert Scotland was born at Petersham in 1895 and was a barman prior to enlisting. His mother lived at 15 Norton Street, Manly, and his wife Ruby at Rozelle.

He embarked on the Ceramic on 7 October 1916 with the 18th Battalion. He served in Flanders, and in a letter home wrote:

“In the push at Flanders I think there was as many shells as there is grains of sand on Coogee Beach.”

He was in the battalion raiding party. He won the Military Medal for his bravery on 19 May 1918. He was killed in action at Harve on 9 August 1918 [1]

[1] Sydney Morning Herald 9 August 1919, p11, in memoriam notice.