Bertie Stibbard
From The Orange Wiki
STIBBARD, Bertie
Service no: 1981
Place of birth: Orange
Address: Cadia, via Orange
Occupation: Labourer
Next of kin: Frances Stibbard (mother), Cadia, via Orange
Date of enlistment: 24 February 1916
Place of enlistment: Orange
Age at enlistment: 20
Fate: Embarked SS Barambah Sydney 23 June 1916. Disembarked Plymouth 25 August 1916. Appointed Lance Corporal 7 February 1917. Appointed Temporary Colonel 27 May 1917. Killed in action, Messines, Belgium.
Date of death: 7 June 1917
Buried: Messines Ridge British Cemetery, Belgium, Plot I, Row F, Grave No. 23
Bert Stibbard was a labourer from Cadia who enlisted in Orange in February 1916. He arrived in England in August the same year and proceeded to France as a private in the 34th Battalion. In February 1917 he was appointed Lance Corporal.
According to an eyewitness report Stibbard was killed by a shell explosion whilst sleeping in a bay in the trenches at Ploegsteert on the morning of 7 June 1917. He was 22.