Francis Ernest Le Messurier enlisted in the RNR as Private, Regt. No. 853 on December 30, 1914.
Unlike most of his fellow soldiers, Frank was a mature man, 35 years of age, with a wife and three children at home on Masonic Terrace in St. John's. He also left behind a good job as a clerk at a salary of $500 pa, a fine salary for those days, so enlisting meant a real commitment on his part.
He was a small man, only 5 ft. 5 1/2 in. tall and weighing only 132 lbs. But what he lacked in size he made up for in grit, as his military records show.
He left St. John's on the SS STEPHANO on March 20, 1915 and was a part of the British Expeditionary Force that left for the Peninsula and the fight for the Dardanelles at Gallipoli on August 20, 1915. They landed at Suvla Bay on the night of September 19-20, 1915 and were in the thick of it immediately.
Like many of his fellow soldiers, he suffered terribly from that first engagement and was admitted with "Debility" (now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) to the 54th Casualty Clearing Station on November 26, 1915 but was back with the battalion for the evacuation later that year.
His name appears amongst the list of those wounded at the Battle of Beaumont Hamel, where he took a bullet wound to the hip which caused him much pain and suffering for the rest of his life. After treatment at the 29th Casualty Clearing Station, he was evacuated to Wandsworth Hospital near London on July 4, 1916.
After recuperating, he was sent home to Newfoundland on September 27, 1916 for light duty. Initially he was discharged as medically unfit on February 20, 1917 due to his hip injury and hearing loss as a result of artillery bombardment during the day he spent wounded on the battle field at Beaumont Hamel before he was brought in by a stretcher crew.
But he reattested for special duty militia on November 30, 1917 and was promoted to Corporal on January 1, 1918 and then to Sgt. before he was finally de-mobbed on March 30, 1919.
Having spent four years as an active member of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, he spent the remainder of his working life as a member of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.