Herbert Hamilton Holden was 19 years old when enlisted in Bathurst in October 1916. He embarked from Sydney the following month, arriving in England in January 1917.
Private Holden was plagued with chest complaints; he was in England for barely a month before he was hospitalised, suffering from pneumonia. He proceeded to France in September 1917, but was hospitalised again in November, with laryngitis, and, in December, was transferred to the Fovant Military Hospital in England suffering from bronchitis and debility.
Upon his recovery Herbert returned to France and served another year with the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Reinforcement, before returning to Australia in August 1919. He was discharged from the Australian Imperial Force in September 1919.
Herbert returned to his parent’s house in Sale Street, Orange, and worked as a farmer until his death in 1939, at age 43.
Herbert Hamilton Holden is commemorated on the Cudal District Honour Roll, the Cudal and District War Memorial Gates and on the Toogong War Memorial.
Herbert’s brother, George Holden, also served in WWI; he died of disease in Egypt in October 1918.
Cudal WWI memorial.jpg. Cudal and District War Memorial Gates. Image courtesy Anthony Stavely-Alexander.
