Claude Oswald Boxsell

First Name: 
Claude
Middle Name: 
Oswald
Last Name: 
Boxsell
Date of Birth: 
Monday, August 12, 1895
Mother's Name: 
Elizabeth Boxsell nee McLean
Father's Name: 
Andrew Boxsell
Date Enlisted: 
Monday, July 3, 1916
Rank at Enlistment: 
Private
Rank at Discharge: 
Private
Unit: 
45th Battalion
Company: 
C
Service: 
Infantry
Awards: 
British War Medal
Victory Medal
Date of Death: 
Thursday, June 7, 1917
Place of Death: 
Messines, Belgium
Cause of Death: 
Killed in action
Details: 

Claude Boxsell (Service No 2617) was born in Berry, N.S.W. in 1895.

Claude enlisted in Kiama, N.S.W. some months after his brother Thomas had enlisted. At enlistment, he was a single, 20 year old engineer.

He embarked on HMAT A40 Ceramic with 45th Battalion, 6th Reinforcement on 7th October 1916. Claude arrived in England on 21st November 1916, and joined 45th Battalion in France, on 18th January 1917.

He saw service on the Western Front, with 10 Platoon, C Company. On 7th June 1917, at Messines, Claude was going over the top of a trench to attack, when he was hit by a shell explosion and killed instantly.

Claude has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial at Ypres, Belgium.

Sources: 
NAA: B2455, BOXSELL CLAUDE OSWALD