Tribute to Percy Frost is a lasting legacy

PERCY Southwell Frost was a prisoner of war, a baker, council alderman and city stalwart. A road north of Brisbane is a permanent reminder of his service.

Percy Frost. Anzac 100 story. Redcliffe and Bayside Herald.

ONE of our finest young ­Diggers was immortalised with the naming of a road after him for his contribution to the Australian war effort and to his chosen hometown.

Redcliffe and District Family History Group secretary Roger Hendey has been looking at the story of Redcliffe’s Anzacs and one of our bravest young men has featured in their research.

The late Percy Southwell Frost was a prisoner of war, a baker, council alderman and city stalwart.

He was involved in the Redcliffe Progress Association and the Returned and Services League when it was known as the Returned Sailors’ Soldiers’ Airmen’s Imperial League of Australia.

Frost St at Clontarf was named in his honour.

To commemorate 100 years since the Anzac landing at Gallipoli, and recognise the sacrifices of those men and women who have served our country since WWI, Quest Community Newspapers will publish one story each day online in the lead-up to Anzac Day.

Mr Frost signed up in June 1916 aged 24 as a reinforcement in the 15th battalion. Records show he was about 160cm and just 49kg when he signed up for war in Europe, with soldiers having evacuated Gallipoli at the end of 1916.

He was transported to Plymouth in Britain, arriving in January 1917 on HMAT Boonah, before leaving for France.

Fighting in the first battle of Bullecourt, Mr Frost was shot, captured and placed in German concentration camps, returning home in 1919 to a rousing reception at the Redcliffe Jetty.

He became a renowned baker, opening Percy Frost bakery, marrying Violet Ashmole in 1922 and dying in 1973.

THIS story is part of Quest Community Newspaper’s 100 Years, 100 Days, 100 Stories project, which will profile Queensland WWI heroes and families as the nation builds up to the centenary of the Allied landing on Gallipoli on April 25, 1915.

If you have the details and war record of a family member who served during WWI, let us know on our Facebook page or email [e-mail]

Originally published as Tribute to Percy Frost is a lasting legacy