Military History

Masters enlisted as Private with 11th Bn. he went to the No. 7 NCO School 18.9.1916 and was promoted to Corporal 16.10.1916.
Embarked Fremantle per HMAT ’Miltiades’ A28 for England 21.9.1917.
Roll Rank Private. (Voyage Only Cpl.)
Roll Unit 24th Reinf, 11th Battalion, AIF.
Masters disembarked at Devonport 27.3.17. He marched in to the 3rd Training Bn. and reverted to Private 28.3.1917. He was promoted to Acting Lance Corporal 14.4.1917. Masters was hospitalised at Parkhouse 2nd Military Hospital with Mumps 25.1917. He was discharged to duty at Park House 11.6.1917. He marched in to 3rd Training Bn. ex Hospital at Durrington 12.6.1917. Masters was selected to attend a 2 day Bombing Course and Trench Warfare, which he passed with ‘Good’ Grades. He reverted to Rank (Private) on proceeding overseas to France 6.8.1917 and marched in to base at Havre 8.8.1917. He was taken on strength in the Field from 24th Reinf. 11th Bn. 21.8.1917. Masters and other new recruits built the 11th Bn. to over 1000 men by August 1917. They were engaged in the Third Battle of Ypres and fought at Glencourse Wood, Westhoek and Broodseinde Ridge, before retiring to Boulogne in December. The 11th Bn. were sent to the front at Messines in late December 1917 and January 1918 (11th Bn. Wikipedia).
Masters was KIA at Messines in the Field 26.1.1918. He was buried where he fell (Report Messines 71.11E). His body was exhumed and re-interred in 1920 to the Messines Ridge British Cemetery- Australian Section, Messines, Flanders, Belgium.
Final Rank Private, 11th Bn. AIF
Medical Condition Deceased, KIA.
Awards and Medals British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Notes Masters spent some of his childhood at the family home at 9 Ethel Street, Guildford, WA.
Photo Western Mail 27.9.1918 p19
           HMAT 'Miltiades'. Photographer unknown, photograph source AWM P08559.001
           Messines Ridge 1917. Photographer unknown, photograph source AWM E01290
           Messines Ridge Cemetery, showing a grave for Officers and NCOs amongst other graves. Donor A.T.Sharp Collection, photograph source  AWM J00655
           Messines Ridge  British Cemetery. Photographer unknown, photograph source  CWGC

Information Source
AWM P08559.001. HMAT 'Miltiades'. Photographer unknown, photograph sourced from the Pictorial Collection of the Australian War Memorial
AWM E01290. Messines Ridge 1917. Photographer unknown, photograph sourced from the Pictorial Collection of the Australian War Memorial
AWM  J00655. Messines Ridge Cemetery, showing a grave for Officers and NCOs amongst other graves. Donor A.T.Sharp Collection, photograph sourced from the Pictorial Collection of the Australian War Memorial.
AWM Embarkation Roll- Leslie Ronald Masters
AWM Roll of Honour- Leslie Ronald Masters
CWGC. Messines Ridge  British Cemetery. Photographer unknown, photograph source CWGC webiste, http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/55400/MESSINES%20RIDGE%20BRITISH%20CEMETERY
Guildford Primary School Honour Roll
Guildford War Memorial
NAA :B2455, Masters Leslie Ronald
St Matthew’s Honour Roll
St Matthew’s Fallen
Western Mail
Wikipedia. 11th Bn. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11th_Battalion_%28Australia%29

York Road, Greenmount, WA. Previously 9 Ethel St. Guildford.WA

Associated Images