Studio portrait of 5688 Private (Pte) Albert James Arthur Hucker, 26th Battalion of Mackay, Qld. ...

Studio portrait of 5688 Private (Pte) Albert James Arthur Hucker, 26th Battalion of Mackay, Qld. The only child of Arthur and Alice Hucker, Albert was employed as a carpenter and was a volunteer in the Citizens' Military Forces (CMF) before enlisting in the 9th Battalion on 14 February 1916. He embarked with the 18th reinforcements aboard HMAT Seang Choon (A49) on 4 May 1916 from Brisbane. Following training in England, he proceeded to France where he was transferred to the 26th Battalion in November 1916. At the time this photograph was taken, Pte Hucker had just been released from the King Edward VII Hospital in Windsor after receiving severe gun shot wounds to his right arm in battle. He returned to France in July 1917. He was killed, aged 22, by shell fire in Thames Wood at the First Battle of Passchendaele on the 30th of October, one of four men in his company to be killed by the same shell. A letter from a friend in the battalion to Pte Hucker's mother stated that Pte Hucker had been buried, however repeated correspondence by his mother with army authorities failed to ascertain the location of this grave. It is most likely that is was destroyed soon after the burial ceremony by the continuing battle. Pte Hucker has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate memorial. His parents attended Anzac Day ceremonies every year in Mackay until their deaths after the Second World War (see P07933.002 and P07933.003)

• Arthur and Alice Hucker preparing to attend the Mackay Anzac Day ceremony in memory of their only ...
• In memory of her only child, 5688 Private (Pte) Albert James Arthur Hucker, Alice Hucker poses in ...