LEDWIDGE, Victor Robert
| Service Number: | 1778 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 6 January 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 4th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Booligal, New South Wales, Australia, 1896 |
| Home Town: | Hay, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Booligal Public School, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 10 June 1918 |
| Cemetery: |
Ebblinghem Military Cemetery Ebblinghem Military Cemetery, Ebblinghem, Nord Pas de Calais, France, Adelaide Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Carrathool Public School WW1 Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 6 Jan 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1778, 4th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Mar 1915: | Involvement Private, 1778, 4th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Shropshire embarkation_ship_number: A9 public_note: '' | |
| 17 Mar 1915: | Embarked Private, 1778, 4th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Shropshire, Sydney |
Help us honour Victor Robert Ledwidge's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Victor Robert Ledwidge joined the 4th Battalion at Gallipoli on the 31 May 1915. He was evacuated suffering from shock after the Lone Pine battle 13 August 1915. Victor was wounded a second time, in Belgium, on the 4 October 1917 when he was shot in the hand and evacuated to England for treatment. He was mortally wounded in June 1918, when hit in the back by shrapnel by from a German artillery shell. Although taken to the 15th Casualty Clearing station, he died of wounds there the same day.
In between he spent most of his time defying military rules, being charged on 9 separate occasions for various offences, mostly absent without leave. He received a total of 70 days detention, 51 days Field Punishment No.2 and 3 days close confinement. In all he forfeited or was fined 226 days of pay.
His mother Mary was awarded his medals, she made it clear by letter that her husband had deserted her many years before and she had raised her large family by herself. She wrote and thanked Base Records for her copies of photographs of the grave, ‘…..and I thank you from my heart for them, it is nice to know my dear son has a resting place, you can imagine what a balm it is to an aching heart, from a grateful mother, Mary Ledwidge.’
His older brother, 1370 Private Walter Stanley Ledwidge 7th Battalion AIF was at the landing on Gallipoli and was shot through the arm on that first day 25 April 1915. He recovered in Egypt and was sent back to Gallipoli in late May. He was again wounded at Lone Pine in August 1915, a gunshot wound to the head and evacuated to Egypt. He lost his left eye and was returned to Australia for discharge in November 1915.