SERVICE PERSON RESEARCH
SERVICE PERSON DETAILS
Service Person’s
Name
Reginald Augustine Holt
Rank
Gunner
Service Number
10170
Regiment/Unit or
Ship or Squadron
5th Brigade, 14th Australian Field Artillery
Date of Birth
Not known
Place of Birth
Murrurundi, New South Wales, Australia
Family Details
(Father) James Hussey Holt
(Mother) Mary Evelyn Holt
Single
Age at Enlistment
23 and 1 month
Place of Enlistment
Newcastle NSW
Date of Death
23 July 1917
Place of Death
Zonnebeke, Belgium
Cemetery or
Memorial Name
Grave or Memorial
Number
Dickebusch New Military Extension Cemetery II. E.
21 years old
Grave Reference: Plot II. Row E. Grave No 21. Memorial Number 14
PHOTO:
Source: Edmiston Family, Family Photo of Gunner R. A. Holt
SERVICE PERSON’S STORY/EULOGY:
Reginald Augustine Holt, or Reg as close friends or family would call him, was born and raised at a small
New South Wales town named Murrurundi.
He was educated at Convent of Mercy and finally at De La Salle College in Armidale. In fact, he was one of
the very first students to go through that college. He excelled in sports at school, especially in rugby and
was ‘a general favourite with all he came in contact’.
Before joining the army his occupation was a carpenter. At the age of 23 he and his best friend Alan Steele
enlisted in the army in 1915 where he was trained in the artillery division. He was sent out to Cairo on an
unknown date where he continued his training.
A letter sent home to his family stated that Reg had contracted a mild form of the mumps. Fortunately he
recovered quickly and resumed training. Once training was completed he was now known as Gunner
Reginald Augustine Holt.
He was sent out to France where he spent the next 16 months fighting the Germans. One afternoon, on 23
July 1917, Reg walked a couple of yards to see the gun layers at work when the gun itself was hit by an
enemy shell. He and two others were killed.
Reg was buried at Dickebusch Military Cemetery in Belgium. For his service he was awarded the British War
Medal and the Victory Medal.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Australian War Memorial 2015, '10170 Gunner Holt, Reginald Augustine,
http://www.awm.gov.au/collection/RCDIG1062727/. (accessed 1 March 2015)
Vandervelden. P. 2015, 'Dickebushext' http://www.inmemories.com/Cemeteries/Dickebushext.htm,
(accessed 1 March 2015)
National Archives of Australia 2015, HOLT Reginald Augustine: Service Number – 10170,
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/DetailsReports/ItemDetail.aspx?Barcode=582300
1&isAv=N (accessed 1 March 2015)
The AIF Project 2015, Reginald Augustus HOLT, https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=141913
(accessed 1 March 2015)