Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Ettrick and Amelia CHERRY, Cooyar, Queensland

# 4156 CHERRY Edward Earnest                                                        31st Battalion
 
Edward Cherry was born in Pittsworth on 18th September 1897 to parents Ettrick and Amelia Cherry. The family relocated to Cooyar in time for Edward and his brothers to attend Cooyar State School. After leaving school, Edward worked in a variety of rural labouring jobs. He also stated he was a teamster, probably working in the timber industry.
 
Edward attended the Darling Downs Recruiting Office in Toowoomba on 29th June 1916. He was one of three brothers who enlisted that day and the occurrence was reported in the Toowoomba Chronicle. He told the officer he was 19 years old and named his father as his next of kin. After passing the medical exam, Henry, Edward and Ettrick Cherry boarded a train in Toowoomba for the journey to Brisbane and then on to Enoggera Camp where all three were placed into the 11th Depot Battalion for initial training, issuing of uniforms and rifle drills. On 21st August, both Edward and Henry were sent off to corporal school. When they returned to camp, Edward and his younger brother Ettrick were allocated to the 10th reinforcements of the 31st Battalion while Henry was allocated to the 41st Battalion.
 
Edward and Ettrick embarked together on the “Boonah” in Brisbane on 21st October 1916. The embarkation roll shows that both had allocated 3/- of their daily pay to be deducted and paid to their mother. The “Boonah” docked in Plymouth, England, on 10th January 1917 and the reinforcements made their wat to the 8th Brigade Training Battalion at Hurdcott to await deployment to the 31st Battalion in France. The 31st Battalion, which Edward and Ettrick were destined to join had suffered an overwhelming defeat in the battalion’s first action at Fromelles in July 1916. More than half of the battalion’s numbers were killed, seriously wounded or missing (most of which were subsequently listed as killed). The entire 5th Division had sustained 5,500 casualties in 24 hours and the survivors were dispirited and gun shy. It would take a long period of rebuilding to restore the 5th Division to a viable front-line force.
 
Edward and Ettrick crossed to France from Folkstone and joined the ranks of the 31st on 13th April 1917. By that time, the losses across the division had been made good but there was still the need for a long period of retraining and organisation. During this time, the 31st was employed in labouring tasks unloading ammunition, repairing trench systems in the rear areas and salvage work on battlefields that the war had passed over. In August 1917, the battalion was relocated to Racquinghem in Belgium to prepare for re-entering the fighting during the 3rd Battle of Ypres; often called simply Passchendaele.
 
There were long route marches to toughen up the ranks and a sure sign that the battalion was about to go into action; the Commander of the AIF, William Birdwood, came to a 5th Division review where he inspected the troops from the back of his charger. On 19th September, the 1st and 2nd Divisions of the AIF entered the battle with the successful taking of the Gheluvelt Plateau north of the Menin Road which ran from the ruined city of Ypres through the Menin Gate east to the village of Menin. As a follow up to this battle, the 4th and 5th Divisions of the AIF would push forward across the plateau into and beyond Polygon Wood.
 
The battle of Polygon Wood commenced on 26th September 1917 with the brigades of the 4th and 5th Divisions spread out over a 9 kilometre front. The 31st Battalion, in conjunction with two other battalions of the 8th Brigade was stationed on the far right of the advance line. The right flank was supposed to be supported by a British Brigade but as was often the case, the British did not advance at the same rate and the 31st Battalion and part of the 29th remained behind to protect the right flank. During this action, Edward Cherry was killed.
 
There is no record of the events that lead up to Edward’s death and his brother, Ettrick was not with the battalion at the time. It is evident that Edward was buried in a temporary grave somewhere near where he fell. The Cherry family requested copies of Edward’s death certificate to make claims against his estate, which had been willed to Ettrick snr. The secretary of the Loyal Pride of Cooyar MUIOOF Lodge requested a certificate so that death benefits could be paid. Miss Pearl Plant of Toowoomba wrote to the authorities requesting information about Edward’s death.
 
At the end of the war, the Imperial War Graves Commission began the task of identifying isolated and temporary graves. Edward’s remains were exhumed and re-interred in the Hooge Crater Cemetery on the Menin Road outside Ypres. In 1920, Edward’s identity discs were recovered and returned to his mother. The Cherry family chose the following personal inscription for Edward’s headstone: AS LONG AS LIFE AND MEMORY LAST I WILL REMEMBER THEE. Edward’s service medals were despatched to his father.