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Sergeant Arthur Carlson Wolff

Commemorated at
Given name
A C
Family name
Wolff
Gender
Male
Service number
3506
Conflicts
First World War, 1914–18
Campaign
Somme 1918
Fate
Killed in action (KIA)
Fate date
03 May 1918
Additional information
Last held rank
Sergeant
Unit at embarkation
13th Battalion
Service
Australian Army - First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF)
Veteran Notes/Bio

The Wolff brothers, 3506 Arthur Carlson Wolff and 7609 David Earnest Wolff, one of seven sets of brothers on the Auburn War Memorial, were both in the 13th Battalion, Fourth Australian Division at the time of their deaths. They attended Auburn Public School and their names are on the First World War honour roll of St Philip’s Anglican Church Auburn. Both brothers nominated their parents living at 33 Susan Street, Auburn as their next-of-kin. Older brother, blacksmith’s striker and member of Liberty Plains Lodge, United Ancient Order of Druids, Sergeant Arthur Wolff, 24, enlisted in September 1915, and embarked on the Port Lincoln a month later. He was too late for Gallipoli but must have arrived in Egypt before 31 December 1915 as he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star. On 4 March 1916, Arthur was allocated to the 13th Battalion. He was to spend six months in Egypt before his division moved to the Western Front via Marseilles in June 1916. He survived on the Western Front for almost two years, less four months in 1916 in England recovering from a shrapnel wound. Early in 1917, he had ‘crimes’ of Absent Without Leave and Drunkeness but this was followed by regular promotion, right up to Temporary CSM. He was killed by a German stick bomb in May 1918 in the vicinity of Villers Bretonneux. He was one of the longest serving Auburn Memorial men, having been in the AIF two years and eight months. For both his sons, Arthur and David, their father chose the inscription 'HE WAS BELOVED BY US ALL' but the inscriptions were never used for neither body was ever found. The names of Arthur and David Wolff are inscribed on the Australian National Memorial at Villers Bretonneux.

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