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Died: 13th December 1916. Killed in Action Armentieres, France.
Mother: Blanche Elizabeth McRae. nee: Graham.
Roderick Donald McRae enlisted with A Company 33rd Battalion on the 22nd of February 1916
at Armidale NSW and was an original member of the Battalion. After initial training in Armidale,
where illness spread throughout the camp, Roderick and his fellow servicemen of the 33rd
prepared to leave for the Hunter Valley where they continued training at Rutherford, near
Maitland in the Hunter Valley. He left Sydney on board HMAT A74 "Marathon" on 4th May 1916 and
with the warship HMS Kent as their escort for that part of their journey took them from Capetown
to Dakar and on to Devonport, England where they disembarked on the 9th July 1916.
Roderick then spent time in training at Larkhill Camp on the Salisbury Plain. Larkhill Camp,
completed in early 1915, was designated as the School of Instruction for Royal Horse and Field
Artillery. Allied troops also trained there. It was here at Larkill Camp that Roderick McRae
celebrated his twenty-first birthday on 6th October. A few weeks later, their training completed,
the boys of the 33rd prepared to leave England.
The 33rd embarked at Southampton, headed for France on 21st November 1916. The troops moved into
the trenches around Armentieres on the Western Front on 27th November, at the start of a very
cold winter. Two weeks after the 33rd first saw action at Armentieres, Private Roderick Donald
McRae was Killed in Action just outside Armentieres on Wednesday
13th December 1916.
Private Roderick Donald McRae was interred in the Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery in Armentieres.
On Sunday 12th March in the year 2000, a tribute to Roderick McRae and the many other descendants
of John and Mary (McLennan) McRae who served in the two World Wars. This tribute took place at
Kilcoy Cemetery, Wollomombi with the placing a plaque in memory of Private Roderick McRae on his
parents’ grave. The tribute was inspired by the word of the King’s message to Roderick’s
grieving parents.
'Let those who come after see to it that his name be not forgotten.’
Young Roderick’s education was at the nearby Oakton School. He worked on his father’s grazing
property and was noted for his cheerful and kindly disposition and for his deep religious
convictions. A short man, Roderick stood just 5’ 4” tall. He joined the Wollomombi Rifle Club
at the time of his sixteenth birthday and was an active member until the day of his enlistment
in the A.I.F. Twenty-five descendants of his grandparents, John and Mary McRae, also enlisted
as did so many young men from the New England area.
(Studio Photo and family research; Ally McRae)
John and Blanche McRae were married in 1891 at Armidale, NSW. Marriage Cert:2173/1891 and
had 4 children, 3 boys and 1 girl. William V McRae born 1892 at Armidale, NSW. Birth Cert:
4163/1892. Roderick Donald McRae born 1895 at Wollomombi, NSW. Birth Cert:30018/1895.
Flora M McRae born 1900 at Wollomombi, NSW. Birth Cert:22661/1900. John G McRae
born 1905 at Wollomombi, NSW. Birth Cert:23754/1905.
Roderick's first cousin's once removed- Private: 2360 Kenneth McRae.
33rd Battalion AIF. Killed in Action. and
Private: 2359 Alexander McRae. 33rd Battalion AIF were among his fellow servicemen. What
were the thoughts of these brave young cousins as they gallantly headed off to war? Tragically
Kenneth and Roderick were both Killed in Action.
Under Construction 18/11/2006.
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