Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Joseph Stephen Bird Biography

Joseph Stephen Bird was born in September 1888 in Wanganui, New Zealand. He moved to Adelaide, Australia and at lived 36 Kent Terrace Norwood, South Australia with his father, William Bird. His sister Ellen Matilda Larner lived at 82 Magill Road, Norwood South Australia. Before Joseph joined the army in 1916 he was a labourer. A labourer was a person who worked in construction who usually did unskilled labour like carrying tools and materials. It was likely that Joseph worked for someone and did jobs like carrying tools, digging and placing bricks. Joseph was 5 foot 10 in height and had dark hair and a dark complexion. Joseph’s religion was Roman Catholic and was single at time of enlisting.

On the 24th October 1916, at the age of 29 years and 11 months, Joseph enlisted in the army. Joseph enlisted halfway into a war so he went in as reinforcements.  Joseph’s service number was 6670, this was used to identify people.  The unit that Joseph belonged to was the 27th infantry battalion as the 19th reinforcement. The 27th infantry battalion was predominantly made up of South Australians.  8,000 people served in the battalion and 1,169 of all ranks died. The 27th infantry battalion was raised in March 1915 by Lieutenant Walter Dollman.

Joseph did not leave Adelaide until the 24th of January 1917 when he left on the HMAT Miltiades. It took a month and three days to travel to Devonport England. The day after he arrived in Devonport, his battalion went to Rollestone. During his time in Rollestone, his unit would have had training for the war.  A month later Joseph caught influenza because more than likely he was sleeping outside in tents. Joseph was in hospital for about two weeks. During this time, he would have just relaxed and kept up to date with his battalion. Joseph recovered in England for four months before leaving for Havre France. Joseph stayed in France for a week before re-joining his battalion in Belgium in the Ypres area.  This battle was fought between the German and the Allies. Joseph was fighting against the Germans. The conditions were really muddy because of the weather. October was quite a rainy month and the maximum temperature did not go over 15 degrees.  This caused terrible conditions for the 27th infantry battalion. On the 4th of October, the battalion moved towards Anzac Ridge to help the 26th infantry battalion take the 2nd objective.

On the 11th of October, the battalion moved to the North of France to a town called Steenvorde. In Steenvorde, Joseph and his battalion did some training and resting/recovery before re-joining the fight on the western front with the Allies. However, they only fought on the western front for a couple of days before they went back to Ypres area. For the rest of November, the battalion rested and had more training. They trained for 2 and a half weeks in December before moving 8 miles north to Ploegesteert. During this time, the battalion had to withstand constant enemy shelling and horrible weather. Joseph’s battalion fought in the Ploegesteert area for a month and a half with terrible weather conditions and constant enemy activity. They then moved to Locre in France where on the 31st of January 1918, Joseph had to leave because of severe frostbite. Frostbite was very common in WW1 because of the horrible conditions in the trenches and the weather. Joseph was serving in Belgium and France during the winter time with freezing temperatures. 

Joseph was in hospital for a few weeks, but he was still not ready to rejoin his battalion. He first went to Bolounge in France for a week before returning to England. In England, Joseph recovered from the frostbite for a month and returned to training for 3 months before embarking to Havre France on the 17th May 1918.  On the 18th of May, Joseph re-joined his battalion.  On the 20th of May when Joseph re-joined the battalion they were in the Ancre sector. While they were in the Ancre sector, they helped the 23rd battalion to push forward. The enemy attitude was extremely quiet with little aerial activity.  A couple of days later aerial and enemy activity recommenced and was active. The enemy would shell the trenches and try to get the upper hand in the air. This continued until the end of month.

On the 5th of June 1918, the battalion moved to Sally-Le-Sec sector, where they were preparing to help the 20th A.I battalion. On the 10th of June, the battalion was holding their line and at 10:30pm, they decided to attack the enemy. From several accounts, during this attack, Joseph was killed instantly by a piece of shell. Witness from the night, recall knowing Joseph and seeing him die. One person insisted on burying Joseph.  Joseph was buried at Dive Copse British Cemetery in Sally-le-sec. Joseph died in a quite horrible way but he did his country proud by receiving a British War Medal and a Victory Medal.

A quote from his great niece Raelen “The only photograph I have is one of you as a young boy. Thank you for all you did for our country. I feel very proud and know you are not forgotten. Your Great Niece Raelen”