Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Edward George Matt was the eldest son of Edward Matt and Mary Hebden Webster. Edward was working as a civil servant when he enlisted on the 14th of June 1915, assigned to the 8th Battalion, 1st Division A.I.F. Having passed the Post Office Examination, he applied for a commission and was sent to the officer training school, receiving a commission as 2nd Lieutenant on the 17th of January 1916, just two days after his marriage to sweetheart Minnie Elizabeth Simmons.

On the 1st of April 1916 he embarked Melbourne for Suez aboard the Suffolk and after some delay he was able to join the 8th Battalion in France in July 1916, where he learned that his younger brother Frank Oswald Matt had been killed in action. In October that year he was attached temporarily to the 2nd Training Battalion based in England where he qualified as an instructor at the Southern Command’s Bombing School at Lyndhurst. After an absence of almost nine months, he was back in France serving with the 8th Battalion. By July 1917 the 8th Battalion was carrying out operations against the German Hindenburg Line but soon returned to Belgium in preparation for the third battle of Ypres.

During operations on the 25th of October 1917 Edward received a serious gunshot wound to the right shoulder and lung. He was admitted to the 20th General Hospital in France where he remained for some ten days. Evacuated to the 3rd General Hospital, London, his condition was still serious but by January 1918 he was reported to be progressing favourably. Edward’s soldiering days were over and on the 24th of January 1918 he was evacuated to Australia aboard the Dunluce Castle. He would be declared medically unfit for duty and discharged from service in September 1918.