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WW1 In Memoriam / 25th March 1917, L/Cpl. Jules John Peter SCHULLER, 23, 20th battalion, AIF
« on: Saturday 31 October 15 12:09 GMT (UK) »
On November 30th, 1885, the steamship Parthia set sail from Plymouth, bound for Australia. My great-grand-aunt Catherine Train, a domestic servant, aged eighteen-years-old, was on board. The ship arrived at Sydney, New South Wales on the 13th January, 1886. During the journey, there had been 36 cases of measles, three deaths, and two births.
In 1888, Catherine married Jules Schuller, another immigrant, of Villeurbanne, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France. In 1894, Jules john Peter Schuller was born.
Jules John Peter Schuller, a carpenter, enlisted on the 6th April, 1915. On the 6th June, 1915, he embarked from Sydney, aboard His Majesty's Australian Troop Transport Berrima. He was never to return from the journey his mother had made in the opposite direction, some thirty years before.
On the 17th March, 1917, Australian troops entered the ruined town of Bapaume. The town hall was one of the few buildings left standing. The Australians made use of it.
On the night of 25-26th March, my first cousin (twice removed) was sleeping in the town hall, with many of his comrades, not knowing that, somewhere in the darkness of the town hall cellar, acid was slowly dripping on the thin steel thread of a time-bomb, placed there by the Germans eight days before. Sometime during the night, the bomb exploded, completely devastating the town hall. Men worked throughout the night and day, digging, but only six men were brought out alive. About thirty men died, including two visiting French deputies. Jules John Peter Schuller's body was dug out of the ruins, a day and a half later. He was buried in Bapaume Communal Cemetery (Row III, Grave no. 9).
On the 26th March, 2011, a Roll of Honour plaque was dedicated in Bapaume to the men who were killed.
http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/bullecourt/bapaume/bapaume-town-hall.php
In 1888, Catherine married Jules Schuller, another immigrant, of Villeurbanne, Rhône, Rhône-Alpes, France. In 1894, Jules john Peter Schuller was born.
Jules John Peter Schuller, a carpenter, enlisted on the 6th April, 1915. On the 6th June, 1915, he embarked from Sydney, aboard His Majesty's Australian Troop Transport Berrima. He was never to return from the journey his mother had made in the opposite direction, some thirty years before.
On the 17th March, 1917, Australian troops entered the ruined town of Bapaume. The town hall was one of the few buildings left standing. The Australians made use of it.
On the night of 25-26th March, my first cousin (twice removed) was sleeping in the town hall, with many of his comrades, not knowing that, somewhere in the darkness of the town hall cellar, acid was slowly dripping on the thin steel thread of a time-bomb, placed there by the Germans eight days before. Sometime during the night, the bomb exploded, completely devastating the town hall. Men worked throughout the night and day, digging, but only six men were brought out alive. About thirty men died, including two visiting French deputies. Jules John Peter Schuller's body was dug out of the ruins, a day and a half later. He was buried in Bapaume Communal Cemetery (Row III, Grave no. 9).
On the 26th March, 2011, a Roll of Honour plaque was dedicated in Bapaume to the men who were killed.
http://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au/bullecourt/bapaume/bapaume-town-hall.php