Studio portrait of 1565 Corporal (Cpl) Alfred Frank Spratt (also known as Frank Alfred Spratt), ...

Studio portrait of 1565 Corporal (Cpl) Alfred Frank Spratt (also known as Frank Alfred Spratt), 20th Battalion. A blacksmith's striker from Islington, NSW prior to enlistment, Cpl Spratt put his age up to enlist and embarked with the 1st Reinforcements from Sydney on HMAT Berrima on 6 June 1915. After being evacuated from Gallipoli to England with gastro enteritis he eventually rejoined his unit on the Western Front and was awarded the Military Medal. The citation reads: "On 31st August 1918, during the operations on Mont St Quentin, N.E. of Peronne, this soldier, single-handed, reconnoitred enemy movement beyond the objective, and attacked an enemy post single-handed, the occupants of which he took prisoner. In this action he was wounded." As a result of this wound he was evacuated back to England and was still convalescing when the Armistice was signed. He returned to Australia on 8 September 1919 and was subsequently discharged. At the outbreak of the Second World War Spratt once again enlisted and served firstly as a Warrant Officer and then as a Lieutenant in the Australian Instructional Corps.