Telegram reporting Private A. E. J. Duncan officially missing

A telegram from Major Pendlebury reporting that Private A. E. J. Duncan, 47th Battalion, was officially reported missing on 5 April 1918.

Private Alfred Duncan was wounded during fighting at Dernancourt on 5 April 1918, and subsequently died. The battle at Dernancourt was part of the March 1918 offensive with Australian troops commanded to hold the vital areas of Dernancourt and Villers-Bretonneux from German capture.

His mother later received a letter dated 26 December 1918 from the then South Australian Premier A H Peake, expressing condolences on his death. She would subsequently in April of the next year receive information from the Australian Red Cross advising that her son Alfred had been wounded in action, with shell wounds to his arms, legs and abdomen.

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