LESLIE PURDON

20th Infantry Battalion

1877 - 1917

PRIVATE LEs PURDON

  • Les Purdon grew up at Purdons Lane, O’Connell.

  • His parents were Henry and Mary Ann Purdon.

  • His wife was Annie Cristina Purdon.

  • Les enlisted at Bathurst on 22 February 1916 at age 39.

  • No known resting place

  • Commemorated at Villers Bretonneux, France and O’Connell ANZAC Memorial Avenue

  • Listed on the Wall of Remembrance at the Commonwealth War Graves cemetery Australian Memorial – at Villers-Bretonneux, France

Service:

  • 13 December 1916 - proceeded for France on Princess Henrietta

  • 22 August 1916 - Sailed on the Wiltshire

  • 13 October 1916 - Disembarked at Plymouth, England

  • 13 December 1916 - Sailed to France

  • 17 December 1916 - taken on strength of 20th Infantry Battalion

  • 18 March 2017 - died of wounds as a result of an accident when a grenade exploded prematurely due to a defect in the grenade.

Contact: mcwhite2795@gmail.com. Les Purdon was her great-uncle