Studio portrait of Second Lieutenant (2nd Lt) Joseph Thomas East, 12th Australian Machine Gun ...

Studio portrait of Second Lieutenant (2nd Lt) Joseph Thomas East, 12th Australian Machine Gun Company from Elaine, Victoria. A 25 year old farm labourer prior to enlisting on 27 August 1915, he embarked for overseas as 3727 Private East with the 12th Reinforcements of the 14th Battalion from Melbourne on 23 November 1915 aboard HMAT Ceramic. He then served briefly in the 46th Battalion in Egypt before transferring in March 1916 to the 12th Machine Gun Company and embarking for France. Between June and November 1916 he was promoted several times and was made Sergeant a few days before he received a wound to his left arm on 26 November. On 10 October 1917 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant but was posted as missing three days later. A court of Enquiry confirmed him as 'Killed in Action' on 13 October 1917. Although witnesses to his death state that he was 'buried where he fell' the official report says it is 'unlikely that he was buried' and he is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, Belgium with others who have no known grave. His brother 103 Lance Corporal Ernest East, 24th Battalion, was killed at Daisy Wood, Belgium three days prior to the death of 2nd Lt Joseph East [see image H05633.]