Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Rex, along with his brother Max, enlisted in March 1915 and were placed in the 27th Battallion, which was made up mostly of South Australians. They trained at the Mitcham camp in Adelaide for a couple of months, before embarking for Egypt and then ultimately arriving on Gallipoli in September 1915.

Rex became ill on Gallipoli, contracting enteric fever , as did many others. He must have been quite crook as he was shipped back to Australia to recover. On recovery, he was shipped out again, this time bound for France, to meet up again with his mates from the 27th, who had been evacuated from Gallipoli in December 1915 and shipped off to the Western Front.

He arrived and rejoined his unit in September 1916, being promoted to corporal. The 27th had been noted in German intelligence, as one of Australia's invincible battallions, such was the regard held by their enemy. They were involved in many forays as the war raged on, with Pozieres and Ypres being a couple of the more well known battles.

On November 5th and 6th 1916, the battallion was involved in the battle around the village of Flers. Rex was shot through the right thigh/, hip area and ended up in the army hospital at Rouen, France. In a letter sent home to his mother, his condition was described as critical.

Fortunately he recovered enough to be able to be shipped off to Blighty(England) for several months where he must have recovered well , but ended up being unfit for any further service, and was discharged in December 1917.

On his return from overseas, Rex came back to his home town of Clare, SA, but must have had continuous complications with his injury from France , with his leg eventually being amputated at the hip some years after the war.

Rex didn't marry until his early 40's, to Dorothy Humphries, whose brother Harrold was also in the 27th. In an interesting twist to this story, Harrold was KIA at Flers on the same day Rex was wounded. To this day none of our family know whether the two were mates, or if they knew each other at all, and whether their connection was why Rex and Dorothy came together.

Rex passed away in 1952 aged 56, leaving behind Dorothy and three children, Barry, Josie and Michael, who were in their early to mid teens. My mother Josie was 14 and says that she can't recall Rex talking about the war much at all, or either of her parents talking about Harrold or any connections there may have been. I guess we'll never know