Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

1640 WARD Robert David                                          13th Battalion
 
Robert Ward was born at Roma, Queensland, to Richard and Edith Ward. By the time Robert was old enough to attend school, the family had moved to Armidale, NSW. After leaving school, Robert began an apprenticeship with a printer in Armidale. He also worked as a printer in Victoria at Numurkah with his father and younger brother Herbert. In 1914, Richard Ward and his family were living in Crows Nest, QLD, where Richard was the proprietor of the Crows Nest and District Observer newspaper, and printery. It is uncertain if Robert Ward ever lived or worked with his father in Crows Nest but his brother Herbert certainly did.
 
When war was declared, Robert was working in NSW. He made his way to Sydney and Randwick Racecourse where he enlisted on 6th October 1914. Robert informed the recruiting officer he was 27 years old born in Roma. He named his father of Crows Nest as his next of kin. Robert reported to camp at Rosehill (another racecourse) where he was taken on by the 3rd Reinforcements of the 13th Battalion. The reinforcements embarked in Sydney on the “Seang Choon” on 11thFebruary 1915 and arrived at Suez five weeks later. The original 13th Battalion was already at the Aerodrome camp in Cairo with three other battalions which comprised the 4th Brigade under the command of Colonel John Monash. The reinforcements continued training while the 4th Brigade prepared for a landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
 
The 13th Battalion landed at Anzac Cove late on the 25th April 1915 and moved immediately up to the firing line. Over the next few days, casualties were heavy and reinforcements were required. Robert and the 3rd reinforcements left Alexandria in Egypt on 30th April and were landed at Anzac Cove six days later. They were quickly absorbed into the battalion. The position at Anzac was perilous with the Australians clinging to the steep terrain were always exposed to fire from the Turks on the heights. For a month or so after the landing, the Turkish defenders mounted numerous bayonet charges down the slopes with the hope of driving the Australians into the sea. The charges were stoutly repelled but the battlefield was strewn with the dead. In May, a truce was agreed which allowed both Australian and Turks to go out into no man’s land to retrieve their dead as the corpses were posing a severe health problem for both sides.
 
In spite of significant losses, the front line at Anzac had not advanced beyond those positions reached on the first day. The commander of the Australian and New Zealand forces, General William Birdwood was under considerable pressure to achieve a break out from the beach head. In August, a combined operation was planned. Diversions took place at Lone Pine and The Nek to attract Turkish attention while the 4th Brigade proceeded at night north along the beach before turning inland in the hope of outflanking the defenders on the heights. As was often the case at Anzac, the planning did not live up to expectations and the 4th Brigade soon found themselves lost in the dark in a bewildering tangle of gullies; primarily due to a reliance on Greek guides rather than the maps which had been issued. The route up the Sari Bara ridge was defended by machine guns and it was soon apparent that no advance could be made. A landing by a large British force at Suvla Bay, just north of the Anzac position stalled when the commander dithered, allowing the Turkish defences to be strengthened, preventing any further advances in that sector either.
 
The attempts to affect a breakout from the narrow Anzac beach head had been dismal failures, with the exception of the charge by the 1st Division at Lone Pine. The Australian and New Zealanders remained hemmed in. During the August offensive against the heights by the 4th Brigade, Robert Ward was declared wounded and missing. His father was informed by telegram which prompted a deal of correspondence between base records in Melbourne and Richard Ward in Crows Nest. Base records advised that since no further advice had been received “it can be assumed that his wound is not serious and that satisfactory progress is being maintained.” Richard replied with questions about when and where his son was wounded. He asked which hospital Robert was in and even asked his local Member of Federal Parliament, The Hon. Littleton Groom, to make enquiries on his behalf. In fact, Base Records had no information at all to provide, no matter who asked for the details.
 
After the Australian forces were withdrawn from the Gallipoli Peninsula, courts of inquiry were held in Egypt to determine the fate of missing men. In the case of Robert Ward on 6th April 1916, the finding was that he had been killed in action on or about 22nd August 1915. Robert’s family received a parcel of his personal possessions which included a shaving brush, leather strop, a hairbrush, torch, belt, scarf, bible and a whistle. Robert’s mother was granted a pension of £2 per fortnight. In the 1920s, service medals of fallen servicemen were distributed. Edith Ward signed for Robert’s 1914/15 Star, Empire Medal and Victory Medal as her husband was by that time deceased.
 
Grave registration units returned to Gallipoli in 1919 and 1920 to search for remains of the missing. No trace of Robert Ward was found. He is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli which lists the names of 3300 Australians and 460 New Zealanders who perished in the eight month campaign and have no known grave.