Bergstrom, Charles Robert (2040)
Place of Birth: Port Melbourne, VIC
Age: 23 years 11 months
Enlistment Details: Saturday, 11 March 1916 – Melbourne, VIC
Service Number: 2040 view online service record
Address:
Coburg, VIC
Next of Kin:
Oscar Bergstrom (father)
60 Loch Street
Coburg, VIC
Embarkation Details:
Date: Saturday, 20 May 1916
Ship: HMAT Medic A7
Port: Melbourne, VIC
Unit: 46th Infantry Battalion – 3rd Reinforcements
Fate:
DOW: Thursday, 29 August 1918
Place: France
Brothers: Albert Victor Bergstrom, Oscar Gilbert Bergstrom, Arthur Hubert Bergstrom and Herbert Harold Bergstrom.
Lance Corporal, 46 Infantry, died of wounds, 29 August, 1918, aged 26, commemorated St Sever Cemetery Extension, France.
Father: Oscar Franz BERGSTROM, born Port Melbourne, educated Graham Street SS, 65 Albert Street. He enlisted as a 23-year-old clerk with family in Coburg, circular returned from there and nominated that as the principal place of association. Died of wounds at the 12th General Hospital after earlier suffering a severe gunshot wound to the knee. Brothers 68536, Herbert Harold and 75, Oscar Gilbert BERGSTROM enlisted from the Coburg address, 5978, Albert Victor, married, from West Melbourne taken Prisoner Of War – all three were born in Port Melbourne and were listed as ex-pupils of the Nott Street school. The second son, Charley’s Attestation notes his father born in Sweden and resident in Australia for 40 years, mother born locally.
Additional research by Brian Membrey
1918 ‘Family Notices’, Port Melbourne Standard (Vic. : 1914 – 1920), 14 September, p. 2. , viewed 03 Sep 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article88368540
3 Comments
Cheryl Griffin
Charles Robert (Charley) Bergstrom, son of Frans Oscar Bergstrom and Catherine Unkles, was born in Port Melbourne in 1892. His father, a Swede, arrived in Australia in the 1890s. His mother was born at Port Fairy.
By the time Charley Bergstrom enlisted in 1916, he was a 23 year old clerk living with his family living in Loch Street, Coburg.
He was wounded in France on three occasions. The second wounding was a severe gun shot wound to his left knee which put him out of the front line from January to October 1917. He was wounded again in August 1918 (gun shot wounds to his legs and left thigh) and died of those wounds at Rouen on 29 August 1918.
Charley’s brothers Albert, Oscar and Herbert also enlisted, as did his four Templeton cousins, all from Coburg.
Cheryl Griffin
Charles Robert Bergstrom (Charley) is remembered in the Avenue of Honour at Lake Reserve, Coburg. His tree number was 17.
You can find out more about the Avenue of Honour on my blog ‘Fighting the Kaiser: Coburg and the First World War http://fightingthekaiser.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/a-tale-of-two-arthurs-and-memorial.html
Brian Membrey
DIED ON SERVICE.
BERGSTROM.- Died of wounds at No. 12 General Hospital, August 29, 1918, Charlie Bergstrom, second son F. O. Bergstrom, Coburg, brother of Albert, (on active service), Gilbert (returned), Arthur (prisoner in Germany), Herbert (in camp), Cuthbert, Annie, Lilla, Ina, grandson of Robert Unkley, Clark street, Port Melbourne, late Gordon and Gotch. The Argus, 14 September, 1918
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1413316