Charles Barber (Australian Army officer)

He served in the Australian Imperial Force during the First World War, rising to the rank of captain and being awarded the Military Cross.

[4] On the outbreak of the First World War, Barber was working in Broken Hill as a mining engineer when he joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 29 August 1914 for active service overseas.

[6] Promoted lieutenant on 1 February 1915,[4] Barber trained in Mesopotamia, where his company built and maintained a pontoon bridge over the Suez Canal,[3] until embarking for Gallipoli from Alexandria on 5 April 1915.

Their prompt action gained for us additional and most valuable protection for the LONE PINE front.On 29 January 1916 Barber was awarded the Military Cross.

[1][6][9][10] On 31 January 1916 he transferred to hospital with enteric fever,[6] and then developed a related thrombosis in his leg[11] and spent some time in Alexandria, where he was joined by his mother and his sister who helped with his nursing.

[4] Barber joined his brother-in-law, Rene Vanderkelen, in a Melbourne Jewel Import Business where his mining qualification assisted in gem valuations.

His son remembered Saturday car trips around the peninsula when crossroads were studied with a view to gun emplacements and tank traps.

[14] On 19 August 1943, for medical reasons, Barber relinquished command of the 4th Brigade and returned to Melbourne, seconded to the Citizens Military Force.