Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

The image assigned to this profile, is from a postcard sent home, to his mother.

The postcard reads :

"28=10=1916

To Amy
From Arthur With Love

We are going into the trench next month but we will be out by December What there is left of us. I don't think I will try for any V.C. We are all pretty fit Now we have been training long enough. Love from Arthur."

Arthur died July 18, 1917.

An extract from the book, 'The Westralian Battalion'.

The extract reads as follows:

... Lintott was seconded to the 11th Training Battalion for Duty on July 18th 1917.

A working party from 'A' Company were returning to Kemmel Hill on board a lorry when a shell struck the lorry and exploded. The blast killed privates A.A. Dodd, C.H. Fulcher and D.G. McDonald.

An eye-witness account, written to their loved one home,:

"Private W Gilbert got shell shock. The three who were killed were all buried together close to where it happened. They were unrecognisable, very badly knocked about."

I am Simon Andrew.

I am the great-great-great nephew of Arthur Albert Dodd.

I previously lived in Belgium for some time, when the name of my relative popped up! My uncle, doing some searches online, discovered that my relative, Arthur Albert Dodd, was buried in Flanders Fields.

I have had the pleasure, on a few occasions, of visiting his grave and pay my respects. I sent photos to my grandmother and spoke about it often when I came back to Australia, on visits.

My grandmother gave me his photograph/postcard which he sent to his mother, Amy. The image you see assigned to his profile, is the photo from THIS postcard, which I uploaded some years back.

The postcard reads :

"28=10=1916

To Amy
From Arthur With Love

We are going into the trench next month but we will be out by December What there is left of us. I don't think I will try for any V.C. We are all pretty fit Now we have been training long enough. Love from Arthur."



I also have his personal bible which came back, after he had died. Within its folds, is an old corsage, which is perhaps from a wedding he helped celebrate, from the family.

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His father, Edwin/Edward Dodd, was born in Warwickshire, UK, and was caught stealing and sentenced to 20 years hard-labour, in Western Australia.
My convict connection!

By the time he had served his time, he eventually met his wife, Amy, whom was at least 25 years his junior. These are my great-great-grandparents.
My great-grandmother was Emma, who was the younger sister to Arthur.

Chillingly, Edwin was sentenced to Australia at the age of 21, for 20 years hard-labour, and tragically, Arthur was 21 when he died on 18 July, 1917.

I found an extract from the book, 'The Westralian Battalion'. Within it, I located where and how Arthur died.

The extract reads as follows:

... Lintott was seconded to the 11th Training Battalion for Duty on July 18th 1917.
A working party from 'A' Company were returning to Kemmel Hill on board a lorry when a shell struck the lorry and exploded. The blast killed privates A.A. Dodd, C.H. Fulcher and D.G. McDonald.

An eye-witness account, written to their loved one home,:

"Private W Gilbert got shell shock. The three who were killed were all buried together close to where it happened. They were unrecognisable, very badly knocked about."

*BELGIAN WINTERS*

We visited the cemetery on both sunny, and cold and wet days. I can say, that on the cold and wet days, the fields in and around west-Flanders is like a land of the forgotten. Until now, as far as you can see, barely a tree remains, and the land still dips in many locations! The cold and wet is felt within you, and the cold wind blowing from the North Sea, made you freeze to the bone.

What a world away it must have felt for these poor young men(boys!) To travel half way around the world, to a place they have never been, to fight a war for a King he'd never seen! But to then be in such cold and depressing environment, at the ages of around 20 years. Bombs, guns, gas. Think now, someone YOU know, who is 20 years of age. Incredible!

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