EC Perkins 4503 AIF is the story of a 16 year old boy soldier from Bowral, NSW Australia in the first world war.
About this site
This site is about Edward Claude Perkins.
Claude, as he was known to his family, is recognised as one of the Boy Soldiers on the Roll of Honour at the Australian War Memorial. Claude joined the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) as a 16 year-old to serve in France in the First World War.
This site attempts to retrace Claude’s steps and piece together his story in joining the AIF, going to war, and what happened after the war.
Considerable effort has gone into piecing his story together.
To get started in learning about Claude’s story, follow this link to the “The Story Page”
The story behind this site
Everyone has a treasure trove of family memories tucked away somewhere.
It may be a card, a photograph, or even a thought. Some memories bring back a time, a place or a person. Some people have great memories of events, others choose or try to forget things in their past for whatever reason.
This story is about the memory of a photo, some medals and a newspaper clipping of Edward Claude Perkins, my great grandmother’s brother.
For me, the story of this website started over 50 years ago, it was a small glimpse of something that was indelibly imprinted on my memory.
As the years went by I collected the information and learnt more about my great grandmother’s family, the Perkins family from Bowral and Leichhardt, NSW, Australia.
Living in Canberra, Australia’s capital, gave me easy access to the Australian War Memorial to research and bring the story to life, and only an hour an half drive from Bowral connected me to the Perkins history in that region.
To get started in learning about Claude’s story, follow this link to the “The Story Page”
Using this Website
The site is designed to tell the story of Edward Claude Perkins, allow you to see if your relatives are part of this story, and give you some tools to investigate your own family military history story.
Read Claude’s Story
Claude is recognised as one of Australia’s boy soldiers of First world war. The term ‘Boy Soldier’ usually refers to adolescents under 18 who lied about their age in order to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force.
Participate with Us
Do you have a relative who was part of the 11th reinforcements, 17th Battalion AIF? Were they a part of the 6th Platoon 17th Battalion AIF around November 1916? Learn more how you can connect with this story.
Start Your Research
Claude’s story is one of Australia’s early Federation Military historical stories. Have you discovered your own family history? The personal story of each person makes up the greater story. Find out how to start.
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