Local Heroes WW1

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Last Updated: Wednesday, 20 May 2015 16:26

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(Tpr) Harold Leonard Antonson

Trooper Harold Leonard Antonson 2245, a Horse driver from Portland, South Australia prior to enlistment on 10th January 1916 and embarked from Adelaide, South Australia, with his unit 9th Light Horse Regiment, 16th Reinforcement, on board HMAT A41 Bakara on 28 April 1916.

Harold Leonard Antonson (1893-1918)

Harold Leonard Antonson was born 30 October 1893, in Portland, South Australia. He was the second child of John and Mary (nee McKenna) Antonson. He attended Port Adelaide School and worked as a horse driver for Mallyon’s Ltd.

From January 1895 until 1898, Harold and his family lived at New Residence on the River Murray. His family was among 17 other families from Port Adelaide who took up land in the village settlement scheme.

On enlistment, Harold is described as being 5’ 8 ¼”, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion. He was 22 years and 3 months of age. His brothers remembered Harold as the musical one of the family. He played the harmonica, accordion, mandolin and piano by ear. He also had a good singing voice and was the entertainer at parties before the war.

Harold enlisted in the AIF on January 10, 1916 and was part of the 9th Light Horse Regiment, 16th Reinforcements. He sailed for Egypt on 28 April 1916 aboard the HMAT Bakara.

From July 1916, Harold was attached to the Imperial Camel Corps and subsequently served with the 3rd Battalion and 4th ANZAC Battalion, Imperial Camel Corps. All of Harold’s service was seen in Egypt’s Western Desert and Palestine, battling the pro-Turkish Senussi tribesmen in Egypt and then the Turkish army in the Sinai Desert, including in the operations conducted in November 1917 to destroy the Turkish defensive line between Gaza and Beersheba.

When the Camel Corps were disbanded in 1918, Harold transferred to the 14th Light Horse. Harold contracted malignant malaria and died on October 16, 1918, fourteen days before his 25th birthday and 26 days before the Armistice. He was buried in the Damascus Commonwealth War Cemetery, Syria.

Harold is commemorated at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, the South Australian War Memorial, North Tce, Adelaide and on his parents’ grave at Cheltenham Cemetery, Cheltenham, South Australia. http://www.rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/explore/people/360627

Overseas Commemoration

Damascus Commonwealth War Cemetery - The cemetery dates from the First World War when Damascus was entered by Commonwealth forces on 1 October 1918. The first medical unit arriving the next day found the Turkish hospitals crowded with sick and wounded, and a few days later an epidemic of influenza and cholera broke out. The First World War burials in this cemetery were mostly from these hospitals

Damascus Commonwealth War Cemetery now contains 661 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 74 of the burials are unidentified and, in the new part of the cemetery, a special tablet commemorates six men of the Indian army who were buried in Damascus Indian War Cemetery but whose graves are now lost

Trooper Harold Leonard Antonson 2245 Damascus Commonwealth War Cemetery (Row D, Grave No. 35), Syria

Trooper Harold Leonard Antonson entry in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Record of War Dead, Index No. 2 Syria , Damascus Commonwealth War Cemetery, page 27.

National Commemoration

Australian War Memorial Canberra - At the heart of the Memorial building is the Roll of Honour: a long series of bronze panels recording the names of over 102,000 members of the Australian armed forces who have died during or as a result of war service, warlike service, non-warlike service and certain peacetime operations.

Location on the Roll of Honour - Trooper Harold Leonard Antonson's name is located at panel 9 in the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial (as indicated by the poppy on the plan).

State Commemoration

South Australia National War Memorial on North Terrace
"TO THOSE WHO NOBLY STRIVING NOBLY FELL THAT WE MIGHT LIVE"

Harold Leonard Antonsonr’s name is commemorated on the large honour rolls lining the walls of the crypt inside the South Australia National War Memorial on North Terrace, which was unveiled by the State Governor on Anzac Day 1931. Inside the crypt, bronze panels contain the names of the 5,511 South Australians who fell in the war.

Local Commemoration

The Semaphore War Memorial was dedicated in 1925 to honour all of those from the district who fought in the war, such as Trooper Harold Leonard Antonson.

The Semaphore War Memorial on the Esplanade was dedicated in 1925 to honour all of those from the district who fought in the war. A temporary ‘Memorial Arch’ of wood and iron was first erected at the entrance to the Semaphore Jetty bearing the banner title, ‘For King & Empire’. On 27 April 1924, four foundation stones for the new memorial were laid at the approach to the jetty – one on behalf of the citizens of Port Adelaide district, one for the RSSILA, one on behalf of the parents of the fallen men, and one on behalf of the widows and orphans.

No doubt Trooper Harold Leonard Antonson's Mother Mrs Mary Antonson and Brother Albert would have attended the laying of these foundation stones in 1924 – with its immediate relevance to her. The stone for the parents of those who fell, such as Trooper Harold Leonard Antonson was laid by Mrs Magnus Wald. The late Magnus Wald had been owner of Glanville Hall, proprietor of the South Australian Stevedoring Company and member for Scarborough Ward 1898-00.

This foundation stone for the Semaphore War Memorial was laid at the approach to the jetty on 27 April 1924 by Mrs Magnus Wald on behalf the parents of those who fell. For Mrs Mary Antonson, this memorial honoured her son Harold who died from Malignant malaria 16 October 1918.

They were also most likely among the several thousand people who attended the actual unveiling of the Semaphore War Memorial the following year.

The following year, a granite obelisk was erected on the foundation stones, with an electric ‘turret type’ clock and topped by a marble Angel of Peace with wings outspread. The local newspaper noted, “all the names of those who enlisted from the district or who made the supreme sacrifice cannot be placed on the monument” so it instead bears a simple commemorative plaque.

Semaphore & Port Adelaide RSL

For the 2015 commemoration of the Anzac Centenary, the Semaphore & Port Adelaide RSL has created a virtual Honour Board listing the names of over 2,000 local men who volunteered to serve in World War 1. Among them are counted Trooper Harold Leonard Antonson from Portland who served in the AIF 9th Light Horse, Imperial Camel Corps and the 14th Light Horse in Egypt and Palestine..

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