Ernest (Ernie) REID MM

REID, Ernest

Service Number: 7686
Enlisted: 17 April 1915, Marital status: Single Age at enlistment: 18 Next of kin: Guardian, Mrs Peterson, Kangaroo Flat, Bendigo
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 3rd Australian General Hospital - WW1
Born: Melbourne , date not yet discovered
Home Town: Kangaroo Flat, Greater Bendigo, Victoria
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Baker
Died: 15 November 1975, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered, age not yet discovered
Cemetery: Brighton General Cemetery, Victoria
Memorials:
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World War 1 Service

17 Apr 1915: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 7686, 3rd Australian General Hospital - WW1, Marital status: Single Age at enlistment: 18 Next of kin: Guardian, Mrs Peterson, Kangaroo Flat, Bendigo
27 Sep 1915: Involvement Private, 7686, 3rd Australian General Hospital - WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '23' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: ''
27 Sep 1915: Embarked Private, 7686, 3rd Australian General Hospital - WW1, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne
23 Sep 1917: Honoured Military Medal, Polygon Wood, 'During the battalion's tour at POLYGON WOOD 23/27 September Private REID worked inceasingly (sic) as a stretcher bearer. From early morning of September 25th and until late in the night of 26th he paused only for meals. Enemy sniping and heavy enemy barrage fire he scorned: and owing to the splendid services of this man and Private Carter, many lives were saved. His stretchers were blown up and he then assisted a neighbouring unit to carry their wounded. His conduct throughout was splendid.' Recommended by H.E Elliott Brigadier General Commanding the 15th Infantry Brigade

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Biography contributed by Jack Coyne

Ernest (Ernie) REID

When Ernest (Ernie) Reid enlisted in April 1915, he listed his Nearest of Kin’ as the Secretary, Department of Neglected Children, Flinders Street, Melbourne. To enable him to enlist the Secretary of the above organisation would need to release Ernest from the indenture he had signed on behalf of Ernest to enter into a trade apprenticeship as a baker with Mr. J. Hennessy of Sydney Road, Brunswick. The indenture needed to be cancelled in order for Ernest to join the Expeditionary Forces.

On Ernie’s Attestation Paper, there was no mention of Mrs Peterson of Kangaroo Flat who wrote on a number of occasions to the base Records Office that she had raised Ernest as a boy on behalf of Department of Neglected Children. It appears she did not receive any official information from the Base Records however; she would read in the newspapers about an E. Reid being wounded or being awarded a bravery medal and seek answers from the Defence Department.

Ernie enlisted specifically to join the Special Reinforcements for the No. 1 Australian General Hospital. After a month in the Depot he would sent to the Army Clearing Hospital at Broadmeadows for initial training. Ernie would be a member of the Australian Medical Corp. He would embark at the end of September 1915, and land at Alexandria in Egypt. It cannot be confirmed whether he spent any time in the failed Dardanelles campaign as the first entry is a Hospital admission for Tonsillitis in Egypt in March 1916.

Ernie would serve in the Medical Corp in Egypt until September 1916, and would follow the bulk of veteran Gallipoli and newly arrived troops who had moved on to the western Front theatre of war. He would leave the Light Horse Regiments in the Middle East defending the Suez canal and fighting Turkish and their allied tribes.

In December he would be ‘Taken on Strength’ into the 58th Battalion, part of the 15th Infantry Brigade led by the renowned General Pompey Elliot. It is not clear whether Ernie maintained his medical Corp role or served as an infantryman. He was wounded in February 1917 described as GSW to the lumbar region. He would be treated in France and return to his unit a month later. He would suffer the dreaded ‘Trench feet’ in May 1917, and be wounded again on September 28 associated with the recognition of the Bravery award for action at Polygon Wood. Stretcher-bearing involved clearing up the casualties. It was hard, exhausting work, and the wounded had to be carried over country that was continually swept by shell and machine-gun fire.

Ernie would be promoted to Lance Corporal, have confirmed he was to receive the Military Medal and be granted two weeks furlough to England for Christmas in December 1917. In 1918, he would take part in some of the most famous of battles as part of the 58th Battalion and 15th Infantry Brigade. They along with the 13th Brigade would recapture the strategic town of Villers - Bretonneux on April 25, 1918. The 15th Brigade under Pompey Elliot would go and play major roles in turning the tide of the war. Ernie would return to Australia in September 1919. From an address, which was c/o of the Kangaroo Flat Post office, Ernie would write to the Base Records Office in November 1919, asking the whereabouts of his Military Medal which he had still not received. The response was that there was often a long delay in receiving the medals as they were coming from England. It is unknown whether Ernie was officially presented with the medal.

 

SERVICE DETAILS: 

Regimental No. 7686

Place of birth: Melbourne Victoria

Religion: Methodist

Occupation: Baker

Address: c/o Mrs Peterson, Kangaroo Flat, Bendigo, Victoria

Marital status: Single

Age at enlistment: 18

Next of kin: Guardian, Mrs Peterson, Kangaroo Flat, Bendigo

Enlistment date: 17 April 1915

Unit name: Australian General Hospital 3, 58th Battalion

Final Rank: Lance Corporal

Returned to Australia: 23 July 1919 

Died: 15 November 1975, Brighton General Cemetery

Medal source:'Commonwealth Gazette' 2 May 1918 on page 1037 at position 130

 

POLYGON WOOD 23/27 September

Brig-Gen H.E (Pompey) Elliot issued the following scathing battle report on the Polygon Wood….

1.      That the British had failed to advance as promised.

2.      That in consequence the assembly position had to be taped out under the eyes of the enemy’s machine guns from the right flank.

3.      That the 58th Battalion was for all practical purposes annihilated………

4.      That the guides which the 58th had trained were practically all killed or wounded……

5.      That the advance if made as proposed would, in the extremely probable event of the British failing to advance, (mean that) the 15th Brigade would be taken in flank by machine gun and rifle fire immediately it moved forward.

6.      That all the (ammunition) dumps accumulated during the previous 48 hours had been destroyed.

7.      That the enemy barrage was so severe that it was impossible to take troops through it without heavy loss and great risk of their becoming demoralised, particularly in the dark.[1]

 

[1] Pompey Elliot At War- In his own words, Ross McMullin.  Scribe. Page 286. 

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