Andreassen, Harold
PLACE BIRTH
Port Douglas
OCCUPATION
Farmer
PLACE ENLISTMENT
Townsville
DATE ENLISTMENT
4/11/1916
NEXT OF KIN
Severin Berner Andreassen, Mowbray (father)
LINK TO DOUGLAS SHIRE
Son of a farming family, Mowbray River, Port Douglas
REGIMENT 1
25th Battalion AIF
RANK
Private
KILLED IN ACTION
Embarked on Ayrshire 24-01-17; Accidental death by discharge of a Lewis gun during training in England.
OTHER INFO
Awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal
STORY OUTLINE
Harold was born and educated in Port Douglas. He worked on the farm and then became a commercial traveller, ending up in Townsville where he enlisted for the army on 4 November 1916, aged 23. His father, Severin Berner Andreassen was named next-of-kin, and there are now five generations of the Andreassen family called Severin Berner Andreassen. Private Andreassen No. 3563 disembarked from England on 12 April 1917 and marched into 'Fovant' in Wiltshire with the 4th Pioneer Training Battalion. In July 1917 Harold was transferred 16 miles away to the 25th Battalion at Rollestone on Salisbury Plain. Two weeks later he was accidently killed during a Lewis machine gun demonstration at Rollestone camp. Two other soldiers were also wounded. Private Harold Andreassen was buried at Durrington Cemetary, Wiltshire on 21 September 1917. In his will, he left his land at Mowbray to his brother Severin. His father Severin requested a strict enquiry as to whether a practical joke was involved ... 'If the lad had died on the battlefield it would have been some satisfaction, now there is none'.
SERVICE NO
3563
