Lionel Charles Mance

World War I Veteran, 3 December 1900 - 13 September 2001

Lionel Charles Mance was born on 3 December 1900 in Stratford, Victoria the son of Albert Earnest and Harriot Agnus Mance. He married Bessie Matilda Luckwill in 1919 and they had one son Lionel. Charlie resided at Cardinal Gilroy Retirement Village, Barcom Street, Merrylands, NSW 2160 until his death.

Charlie Mance told enlistment officers he was 18 when he was only 16 years and five months in 1917. His enthusiasm "broke my mother's heart".

Mr Mance - "Charlie's my name" - by the time of his death was one of only 25 survivors of World War I, including two survivors of the Gallipoli campaign, out of the 330,000 Australians who enlisted to fight overseas.

He was a blacksmith's striker in a metal foundry in Brunswick, Victoria until 1917 and he had various positions including platelayer and bricklayer from 1920.

He enlisted in Victoria in 1917 (Private, Regimental Number 763A, Machine Gun Section, No. 1 Battalion) and embarked on the "Aeneas" in October 1917 for England. He was transferred to the 22nd Battalion in December 1917. Wounded in action in France in 15 June 1918, he returned to duty with the 6th Brigade 2nd Division on 11 July. The Australian Imperial Forces took part in the advance south of the Somme and the Hindenburg Line and Montbrehain in October 1918. He fought in a series of horrendous battles, including Ville-sur-Ancre, Villers-Bretonneux, Mont St Quentin and Heleville Wood. He was gassed once, and at Heleville Wood was wounded by shrapnel but remained on duty. He returned to Australia on the "Runic" in February 1920 and was discharged March 1920 with 1,061 days of effective service.

The trauma of those years had a bitter aftermath. In the years that followed, he turned to alcohol. Then he decided on reform, abstained from drink for life, and for many years ran Alcoholics Anonymous in Merrylands.

He extended his work to counselling drug addicts, getting through in some cases to addicts in prison who were considered beyond help. He contributed to charity and to schools.

He also learned bricklaying under the repatriation Post War Reconstruction Training Scheme and worked as a bricklayer in Victoria and Canberra. He moved to Granville NSW in 1946 and to Merrylands in 1953. He continued to work as a bricklayer until he retired in 1960.

He was a bit deaf and largely blind but didn't mind putting on the slouch hat again and the medals. They included the Legion of Honour and the medal presented by the Prime Minister in 1998 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War I.

He was prominent in the World War I Veterans Association. Mr Mance went on a return trip to the old battlefields, becoming their public face in 1998.

He was President of the First World War Diggers Assocation - awarded the 80th Chevalier Legion d'Honneur by Govt of France, Victory Medal, British War Medal and the 80th Anniversary Armistice Remembrance Medal.

A portrait painted by Leahlani Johnson, commissioned by the Merrylands RSL Club, hangs in the foyer of Holroyd City Council.

In 1998 Holroyd City Council presented Charles Mance with the "Keys to the City" at a Civic Reception held in his honour.

His life was celebrated as part of the Centenary of Federation celebrations. One of the Centenary events was a program called Peoplescape where communities around Australia were asked to nominate a local citizen who could be painted and the painting would be displayed at Parliament House in Canberra. The final images were displayed in Canberra on November 25, 2001.

Both Holroyd Council and Merrylands RSL Club nominated Lionel Charles Mance.