Douglas Barnes MBE was born at Learmonth and educated at Ballarat Grammar School, becoming the Signalling Officer with the 71st Infantry prior to the war. He was a 25 year old undertaker from Raglan Street in Ballarat when he was granted a commission to join the AIF on May 1st 1915. Attached to the 23rd Battalion, he embarked from Melbourne on May 10th aboard the Euripides. At the end of March 1916 he arrived in France where on June 16th he was wounded in action. He received a gunshot wound to his upper left arm and was evacuated to the 5th Auxiliary Hospital in England. In September he was able to rejoin his unit and was promoted to Captain. In January 1917 he was once again withdrawn to hospital in England, suffering from gastroenteritis. The London Gazette of January 4th 1918 carried the announcement that, in recognition of the conspicuous service rendered by Captain Barnes, he had been appointed to 'the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, for services in connection with the War'. Around the same time he was assessed as unfit for general service but fit for home service so he returned to Australia on the Mamari, disembarking at Melbourne on February 4th 1919. He had reached the age of 97 when he died in June 1987.