Bundaberg-born Denis Charles Taylor’s World War I service has been recognised through Bundaberg Regional Council’s Streets of Remembrance program.
The program sees the badge under which local veterans served added to the signs of Bundaberg Region streets as a tribute to their service.
Taylor Street in Kepnock was named for Lance Sergeant Denis Taylor in October 1950.
Born in Bundaberg in April 1895 to parents David and Alice, Denis spent three years training in the Senior Cadets and five years as an apprentice fitter at Millaquin Sugar Company (now Bundaberg Sugar).
He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 19 October 1914, aged 19 years and 6 months.
As Denis was younger than the minimum age of enlistment, which at the time was 21 years old, his parents wrote a letter giving their consent for him to sign up.
He joined as a private in the 15th Australian Infantry Battalion, No. 3 Company, was soon promoted to Corporal, and then Lance Sergeant on 1 January 1915.
After training in Victoria, Denis embarked onboard HMAT Ceramic A40, a troop transport ship that departed Melbourne on 22 December 1914 and arrived in Alexandria, Egypt on 1 February 1915.
From there, Lance Sergeant Taylor proceeded to join the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (M.E.F) at Gallipoli Peninsula on 12 April.
The 15th Battalion, made up mainly of volunteers from Queensland and Tasmania, landed at ANZAC beach, Gallipoli on 25 April.
Lance Sergeant Taylor was killed in action at Gallipoli on 1 May 1915, aged 20.
Among the many war dead, Denis was buried in an unmarked grave at Quinns Corner, Gallipoli, by Reverend F W Wray.
In 1924, the Imperial War Graves Commission erected a permanent headstone tablet, engraved ‘Believed to be buried in this Cemetery’ to honour those buried in unmarked graves at the Quinns Post Cemetery.
Denis’ family received his Victory Medal in 1922, along with a Memorial Plaque, Memorial Scroll and King’s Message.
His name is commemorated on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Bundaberg Christ Church Roll of Honour, Bundaberg War Memorial, and Maryborough Albert State School War Memorial.
Information on Lance Sergeant Denis Charles Taylor’s life and service is from the National Archives of Australia, Australian War Memorial, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and Virtual War Memorial Australia. Service Number: 501
