Charlie Mance Charlie Mance ( 3 December 1900 – 13 September 2001 ) was a highly decorated Australian soldier who fought in many battles during World War I . Mance was born Lionel Charles Mance in Stratford , Victoria , son of Albert Earnest and Harriot Agnus Mance . He married Bessie Matilda Luckwill in 1919 and they had one son ( Lionel ) . War Service . At the age of 16 he lied about his age and enlisted for World War I in Victoria ( 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 , he was wounded - in - action in France on 15 June 1918 , but 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 , the Hindenburg Line , and Montbrehain in October 1918 . He fought in a series of battles , including Ville - sur - Ancre , Villers - Bretonneux , Mont St Quentin and Heleville Wood . He was gassed once , rendering him deaf and blind for weeks , and at Heleville Wood was wounded by shrapnel but remained on duty . Aftermath . 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 . Later he decided on reform , abstained from drinking , and for many years ran Alcoholics Anonymous in Merrylands . He extended his work to counseling drug addicts , getting through in some cases to addicts in prison who were considered beyond help . He contributed to charity and to schools , appearing at Merrylands High School for many years where his great - grand daughters Danielle , Tracey and Mellisa Mance attended school . Mance tried to educate everyone around him about the horrors of war . He also learned bricklaying under the repatriation Post War Reconstruction Training Scheme and worked as a bricklayer in Victoria and Canberra . He moved to Merrylands in 1953 . He continued to work as a bricklayer until he retired in 1960 . Mance died at the age of 101 and was given a state funeral . Honours . Mance Received many honours and Medals , they include the Légion d ' honneur , France ' s greatest decoration , in recognition of the esteem in which France holds the contribution of Australia and its other allies . He was one of the first allied veterans in the world to receive the honour . He was presented with a medal by the Prime Minister in 1998 to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War I . ( 80th Anniversary Armistice Remembrance Medal . ) He also received the " Victory Medal " and the " British War Medal " . He was President of the First World War Diggers Association . In 1998 Holroyd City Council presented Charles Mance with the " Keys to the City " at a Civic Reception held in his honour . A portrait painted by Leahlani Johnson , commissioned by the Merrylands RSL Club , hangs in the foyer of Holroyd City Council . In 2000 , Mance was the guest of honor at the unveiling of the digger statue , on the newly named " ANZAC Bridge " . This statue was said to have been made in his image .