Portrait of 2918 Private (Pte) Kingsley Cleveland Marshall Grafe, 50th Battalion. A labourer ...

Portrait of 2918 Private (Pte) Kingsley Cleveland Marshall Grafe, 50th Battalion. A labourer from New Hindmarsh, South Australia, prior to enlistment, he embarked with the 7th Reinforcements from Adelaide on 6 November 1916 aboard HMAT Afric for Plymouth, England. After seven months training he joined his battalion on the Western Front near Messines, France. Pte Grafe was wounded in action at Westhoek Ridge, Belgium, on 26 September 1917 and was evacuated to Boulogne for treatment and recuperation before rejoining his unit a month later. He was also hospitalised due to illness from late February to early April 1918. Pte Grafe was killed in action at Villers-Bretonneux on 25 April 1918. He has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial. He was aged 23 years. His older brother, 3182 Pte John William Grafe enlisted in the 10th Battalion and embarked with the 8th Reinforcements on 2 September 1915 for Suez. While there he was initially diagnosed with pleurisy which subsequently was changed to tuberculosis. He was repatriated to Australia for palliative treatment prior to discharge in November 1916. Pte J W Grafe died of this disease on 11 December 1917 and is buried in the Hindmarsh Cemetery, South Australia.