Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

ROY DAVIS (1893-1970) born at Murrumbateman, son of Alfred Thomas and Rosa Ann Davis nee Wales. Roy epitomised the legend of the Aussie soldier – The Anzac. He had been a member of the civilian 11th Light Horse and the 2nd Civilian Infantry Battalion, 4th CMF Battalion, 9th Light Horse MGS 1913-14, when he enlisted on August 19th, 1914 as Private 51, in the 1st Light Horse. His medical exam shows that he had previously had two operations, one in the left groin, the other the right breast, he has a wound from a horse kick on the right shin and a gun shot wound in the right foot.
A farewell party was given in Yass for Roy and his cousin George Puckett. At that function his father replied to the toast The Parents with the remark that:-
he felt proud of his son having been selected to go, and if needed he had three more burly lads who would go forward and fight for the King.
His short, initial training was undertaken at the Roseberry Camp and he sailed for Perth on August 25th on left Albany on board the HMAT A16 Star of Victoria on October 20th, 1914. Promotions followed swiftly, Lance Corporal in September 1915, Corporal September 1915, Sergeant January 1916, 2nd Lieutenant July 1916 and 1st Lieutenant in December 1916: He wrote home:- (and his letters were printed in the Yass paper)
May 16th, Been a regular inferno with rifle fire from enemy, Stood to arms at 3am. Fire has not stopped for five minutes. We get three doses of shrapnel per day so far. We have to be careful of the snipers. We get plenty of rations, but the water supply is bad.
May 19th, We were turned out at 3am. The hottest time we had up to date, shells bursting all round us – nothing but a network of fire and flame. Enemy attempted to advance at 10.am. The machine gun delivered a raking fire on them, causing them to retreat with great losses. At 3am we opened fire (again) and gave them the liveliest time since we came to the trenches,
Suffering from a varicocelli infection at Gallipoli he was admitted to the 17th General Hospital at Alexandria where he spent 6 days. (Variocelli is a painful condition, varicose veins in the testicles, similar to a hernia, and may be caused from strain in man-handling a gun into position, or from a long time spent in the saddle.) Later the same month he was transferred to Rosnel-Im Camp when he suffered an attack of Gastritis. He rejoined his unit at Gallipoli on August 18th and was attached to the Anti Air Craft Section. On December 27th he was placed on board the Hospital Ship Koronata to again be sent to the hospital at Alexandria. Roy was officially promoted to Corporal on January 1st, 1916. He joined the Egyptian Western Front Force on January 14th, and then spent 3 weeks at Instructors School at Tukh el Kheil in March. On the first anniversary of Anzac Day he was admitted to the 4th district Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance at Minia. Promoted to Sargent on May 10th, 1916. There were more admissions to hospital, listed in his official record, which at least indicates that our boys were well looked after by the medical corps. He was then transferred to the Machine Gun Squadron on July 28th and qualified as a 1st class instructor on November 20th. He received news on December 21st of his promotion to Lieutenant. On January 19th, 1917, Lieutenant Roy Davis was awarded the Military Cross for Gallantry and Devotion to duty in the Field in the Battle of Rafa at Magdhaba – For conspicuous dash and enterprise in the handling of his Machine Guns and assisting the advance of troops on enemy trenches. The gun he was handling personally was put out of action just before the fall of the last position.1
This man did exceptionally good work with his two guns. Covering my advance so completely that I was able to advance with a minimum of loss, wrote Lieut. Co. C. H. Granville DSO, Commanding Officer, 1st Aust LHR, when recommending the award. Roy was mentioned in dispatches by the British General, Sir Archibald Murray. He was then wounded in action at Gaza and admitted to the 53rd Welsh Casualty Clearing Station on April 21st. His gun shot wound in the foot received treatment at the (1) 1st Light Horse Field Ambulance (2) the 53rd Welsh Casualty Clearing Station – Admitted and transferred – Deircel Belah (3) Australian S Hospital, (4) Base Hospital – El Arish and the Next of Kin advised (5) 24th Stat Hospital, transferred to Cairo (6) transferred to convalescent hospital – Alexandria Belkelely (7) No. 1 (Syrian) Convalescent Hospital, Next of Kin advised. On May 19th he rejoined the 1st Australian Machine Gun Squadron at Shellal. His army career then covered areas of training interspersed with action with his squad. He received 6 weeks Leave of Absence to be spent in Australia and he marched out to Suez for embarkation on the NZT Tofua and arrived in Sydney on January 1st, 1918. His leave over he embarked at Sydney on the Port Darwin for Suez with the 1/9th Engineers Unit of the 1st LHR. He arrived at Port Suez on June 7th, and was taken back on strength with the 1st AMGS at Moascar. In October he was struck down with a serious attack of Malaria, and his Next of Kin was informed. It was two months before he resumed his regimental duties. Roy was promoted to Captain in April 14th, 1919, and transferred to the 3rd AMGS. He suffered from a perforated appendix on June 1st and was admitted to hospital at Ishmailia. On July 17th, he boarded the Dunluce Castle for the return journey to Australia and was struck off strength. His appointment was terminated on November 11th, 1919. For this illustrious Service he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal, Oak Leaves, Mentioned in Dispatches and the Military Cross.
Roy also served in WW2, enlisted in Gundaroo on March 27th, 1942 as N377119, serving as Captain with the 13th Battalion Volunteer Defence Corps. He was discharged on September 17th, 1943. [Davis of Gounyan - Roll of Honour - BM Pittman]