Gordon Goldring was born 18 January 1885 to Marie (née Levey) and Eugene Aron Goldring of Potts Point - Sydney jewellery importers. Gordon attended Scots College, where he was in the cadet corps, then Hawkesbury Agricultural College. He was working as a station hand at Toolybuc, North Queensland, before joining the AIF in Townsville on 17 September 1914, age 29.

As No. 140 Private Gordon Goldring of A Company, 15th Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade, he embarked Melbourne on 22 December, arriving Egypt on 31 January 1915 and landed at Anzac Cove in the afternoon of 25 April 1915. (Refer separate entries of Henry Jacobs, Gordon Fink et al for more detail of 4th Brigade.)

As part of the main “Breakout from Anzac” from August 6, the objective of the 4th Brigade was Hill 971 - the highest point of the Sari Bair Ridge – via a sweeping “Left Hook.” A letter* written on 14 August 1915 by Corporal Eric Simon to Goldring’s father provides a graphic description:
“We were advancing [towards Kaiajik Valley] at daybreak on the morning of Sunday August 9th [actually 8th], through short, thick scrub against a strongly defended ridge, on my right as our advance was held up for a space were (1) our platoon commander (2) your son and (3) two more privates. The platoon commander and the private next to your son were killed. Your son and myself both got a bullet in the leg, the remaining man was hit in the hand and disappeared. Your son and I crawled away and dropped behind a bush. As we did so, two snipers fired, one narrowly missing, the other hitting your son through the chest.”

“As he lay dying, I asked him what message I could take. He said 'Write to my Father' and gave me your address. Being shot through the leg, I could do nothing. There was a continuous hail of shrapnel between where we lay and the dressing station, and when I reached the station an hour later, no Red Cross could venture out. I am writing this letter from the hospital [on Lemnos].”
“It will be some consolation to know that your son died as he has always fought, bravely, and for his country."

Despite that account, letters sent by his mother returned marked “Killed” and other evidence from the Red Cross, Gordon was officially reported as “Missing” until May 1916 - some nine months after his death - when authorities finally provided confirmation to his exasperated father of a Court of Enquiry’s finding: “Killed in Action 8 August 1915.”

Private Gordon Goldring has no known grave and his name is engraved on Panel 46 of the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey.

* The letter was published in Australian newspapers in November 1915.

Gordon Goldring was born 18 January 1885 to Marie (née Levey) and Eugene Aron Goldring of Potts Point - Sydney jewellery importers. Gordon attended Scots College, where he was in the cadet corps, then Hawkesbury Agricultural College. He was working as a station hand at Toolybuc, North Queensland, before joining the AIF in Townsville.

He enlisted in the 15th Battalion, A Company, on 17 September 1914, age 29: No. 140 Private Gordon Goldring. Three-quarters of the battalion were volunteers from Queensland and the rest from Tasmania. With the 13th, 14th and 16th Battalions it formed the 4th Infantry Brigade, commanded by Colonel John Monash, and they trained together under him at Broadmeadows in Victoria. They embarked on HMAT A40 Ceramic on 22 December and left Albany, WA, on 31 December with the 2nd Expeditionary Force. After arriving in Egypt on 31 January 1915, the brigade - part of the New Zealand and Australian Division - trained at Heliopolis, near Cairo.

The brigade left Alexandria in early April 1915 and gathered with the ANZACs on Lemnos, where they practised landings. They landed at ANZAC Cove in the afternoon of 25 April 1915 and a week later, from Monash Valley, the 16th Battalion was thrown into the attack onto Bloody Angle, between Quinn’s Post and Pope’s Hill, in a vain effort to take the high ground - particularly Baby 700 - suffering many casualties. (See separate record of Gordon Fink et al.)

On the night of August 6, after the start of the diversionary attack on Lone Pine by the 1st Brigade, the assault on Hill 971 (or Koja Chemen Tepe) - the highest point of the Sari Bair Ridge and part of the main “Breakout from ANZAC” - was the objective of the 4th Brigade, via a sweeping “Left Hook”. A letter written on 14 August 1915 by Corporal Eric Simon to Goldring’s father provides graphic description*: “We were advancing at daybreak on the morning of Sunday August 9th [actually 8th], through short, thick scrub against a strongly defended ridge, on my right as our advance was held up for a space were (1) our platoon commander (2) your son and (3) two more privates. The platoon commander and the private next to your son were killed. Your son and myself both got a bullet in the leg, the remaining man was hit in the hand and disappeared. Your son and I crawled away and dropped behind a bush. As we did so two snipers fired, one narrowly missing, the other hitting your son through the chest.”

“As he lay dying, I asked him what message I could take. He said 'Write to my Father' and gave me your address. Being shot through the leg I could do nothing. There was a continuous hail of shrapnel between where we lay and the dressing station and no Red Cross could venture out when I reached the station an hour later. I am writing this letter from the hospital [on Lemnos].”

“It will be some consolation to know that your son died as he has always fought, bravely, and for his country."

Despite that account, letters sent by his mother returned marked “Killed” and other evidence from the Red Cross, Gordon was officially reported as “Missing” until May 1916 - some nine months after his death - when authorities finally provided confirmation to his exasperated father of a Court of Enquiry’s finding: “Killed in Action 8 August 1915.”

Private Gordon Goldring has no known grave and his name is engraved on Panel 46 of the Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey.

* The letter was published in newspapers in November 1915 and is included in Goldring’s NAA record, which comprises 148 pages – the most encountered in research of Jewish servicemen (typically 4 to 40 pages).