CHEWINGS, Henry James
| Service Number: | 5928 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 18 April 1942, Streaky Bay, SA |
| Last Rank: | Driver |
| Last Unit: | 4th Light Horse Brigade Train |
| Born: | Semaphore, Adelaide, 17 July 1896 |
| Home Town: | Semaphore, Port Adelaide Enfield, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | 21 October 1955, aged 59 years, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Cummins General Cemetery, S.A. |
| Memorials: | Balaklava Anglican Church WW1 Honour Board, Balaklava District WW1 Roll of Honour, Norwood Primary School Honour Board, Norwood St Bartholomew's Anglican Church Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 26 May 1915: | Involvement Driver, 5928, 4th Light Horse Brigade Train, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '22' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 26 May 1915: | Embarked Driver, 5928, 4th Light Horse Brigade Train, HMAT Afric, Adelaide |
World War 2 Service
| 18 Apr 1942: | Enlisted Streaky Bay, SA |
|---|
Help us honour Henry James Chewings's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by St Ignatius' College
Henry James Chewings, son of Henry Sr. and Hester Chewings, was born on the 17th of July 1896 in Semaphore, Adelaide. Chewings moved into the rural areas of Adelaide during his teenage years and eventually became a farmer. Chewings had previously seen service, and possibly action, due to a scar from a bullet wound on his left arm recorded during his enlistment [AIF Project, 2016]. A key reason of this was also because of his unmarried marital status and so he had little to lose by joining the war. Although Australia had prevented conscription from becoming compulsory, Chewings enlisted of his free will, and after a brief waiting period, Chewings embarked on the journey to Egypt on the HMAT A19 Afric on 29 May 1915 at the age of 18.
Chewings, like most Australians, trained at Cairo for four months before being released for action. In Egypt, Chewings was placed in the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, but immediately withdrew after multiple arm wounds forced him to do so. He also admitted in a written letter that he wrote at the hospital that he had ‘no previous experience as a gunner’ and was therefore unfit for the position [National Archives of Australia, 2017].
Chewings’ position changed to the 4th Light Horse Brigade. Drivers of the horse regiment like him were needed basically everywhere, and he ended up as part of the most critical forces in the Western Front- as horses were critical for providing supplies and contributing as an escort for field medical help, for evacuations of civilians and general travel. However, Henry's division stayed behind at Egypt to help 'clean up' the situation. The horse regiments were critical in the most dangerous attacks and were among the first to be exposed to German gas attacks in Ypres. In infantry attacks, Chewings’ regiment was the metaphorical tip, blade and handle of the spear: they led and also supported attacks, but usually at an extreme risk, an example being the Pyrrhic victory (specifically, for their own regiment) of Beersheba, where the 4th Light Horse regiment was heavily involved. The 4th Light Horse regiments’ charge on the trenches at Beersheba has been compared to the fearlessness of the 1854 Charge of the Light Brigade[Woodward, 2006], the only difference being that this charge was one that was mostly successful, and caused the Turkish withdrawal into Palestine.
It was the perilousness of the position that eventually led to Chewings’ invalidation from the war due to a shrapnel wound. He was indeed wounded several times but appeal from family while he was in hospital and the end of the war were what brought him back to Australia, and Chewings was discharged on the 9th of March 1919.
Chewings was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his commitment to duty [RSL Virtual Memorial]. A few years after he returned to Australia, he got married. He ended up having three children- Lois, James and Robert. He lived the rest of his life relatively peacefully and died at the age of 59 on the 21st of October 1955.
AIF - Homepage. 2018. AIF - Homepage. [ONLINE] Available at: https://aif.adfa.edu.au/aif/. [Accessed 21 March 2018].
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