Richard Percy MOORE

MOORE, Richard Percy

Service Number: 6614
Enlisted: Not yet discovered
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 9th Infantry Battalion
Born: Maryborough, Queensland, Australia, date not yet discovered
Home Town: Howard, Fraser Coast, Queensland
Schooling: Howard State School, Queensland, Australia
Occupation: Coal Miner
Died: Illness (Pneumonia), 20th Casualty Clearing Station, Charleroi, Belgium, 20th Casualty Clearing Station, Charleroi, Wallonie, Belgium, 21 February 1919, age not yet discovered
Cemetery: Charleroi Communal Cemetery
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Howard War Memorial, Maryborough Queen's Park War Memorial, Shire of Howard Roll of Honour, Torbanlea State School Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

7 Feb 1917: Involvement Private, 6614, 25th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Wiltshire embarkation_ship_number: A18 public_note: ''
7 Feb 1917: Embarked Private, 6614, 25th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Wiltshire, Sydney
21 Feb 1919: Involvement Private, 6614, 9th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 6614 awm_unit: 9th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Private awm_died_date: 1919-02-21

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Biography contributed by Ian Lang

Richard Moore was born in Maryborough but spent all his young life in Howard, attending Howard State School and then being involved in the Howard Senior Cadets. He lived with his mother, Clara, and Stepfather, Fred Bierton in King Street, Howard. Richard had two younger sisters and a younger brother.

 

When Richard presented himself for enlistment into the AIF on 8th January 1917, he had with him a note signed by his mother stating he was of age and she gave her permission for him to enlist.  His attestation papers show that Richard was 18 years and one month old, occupation of miner, and his address was King Street, Howard. Richard’s medical records show he was 5’ 3” tall and weighed only 112 lbs (8stone or 50 kg). Even by the standards of the time, Richard would have presented as a slight youth.

 

Given his small stature, Richard would not at first glance have presented as ideal soldier material. The reasons for his enlistment can only be speculated at but the fact that he had spent four years in the senior cadets, the failure of the conscription plebiscite two months earlier and the fact that Richard made it quite clear that he would be allocating 3/5ths of his pay to his mother may have had some bearing on his decision.

 

Richard marched in to camp at Fraser’s Paddock, Enoggera a week after enlisting. He was placed initially into a depot battalion before being granted a period of home leave which he stated would include a nine hour train journey to Howard. On his return to camp, Richard was allocated as part of the 19th reinforcements for the 25th Battalion.

 

The 100 or so reinforcements, under the leadership of an officer and acting NCO’s took a train to Sydney where they boarded the “Wilshire” on 7th February 1917. Richard had been in the army for only 30 days  and was already off to the war. As he had promised, the embarkation roll shows that 3/- of his daily 5/-  was allocated to his mother.

 

Richard and the rest of the reinforcements landed in Devonport in SW England on 11th April 1917 and once landed marched out to a training camp at Rollestone. Richard had been in camp less than 48 hours before he was charged with being Absent Without Leave for 4 days; the temptation to see the sights of Devon being too great for an 18 year old. He was sentenced to 5 days confined to camp and was fined 10 day’s pay.

 

Richard remained in the training camp at Rolleston until November of 1917 after which he was transferred to the 7th Training Battalion, prior to be being posted overseas on 27th December 1917. Richard had just turned 19. Although not strict policy, there were instances where young reinforcements were held back from the front until they were at least 19. In some cases, young soldiers were often assigned less dangerous duties in an infantry battalion; but this was at the discretion of the battalion commander.

 

Richard finally joined the lines of the 25th Battalion in a rest camp at Surques, just east of Boulogne near the French coast and miles away from the front. The 25th Battalion, like the rest of the AIF in the winter of 1917/18 was in urgent need of a sustained rest after the hard fought battles waged in Belgian Flanders during the Passchendaele campaign. Rest camps provided the opportunity for soldiers to visit the divisional baths where in addition to a hot bath, uniforms would be washed and steamed to kill lice and fresh underwear issued. Inter unit sporting contests of football were organised and generous leave was provided for men to visit the cafes in the local towns. Concert parties provided entertainment in the evenings.

 

The 25th returned to front line duties in early March but there was only limited action. It was well known that the Germans were preparing a massive offensive in the spring of 1918 to take advantage of a narrow window during which the Germans would have a numerical superiority on the Western Front. The British Supreme Commander, Sir Douglas Haig, guessed that the main thrust would be in the Ypres sector and he kept the Australian divisions in Belgium to meet the threat.

 

On 18th March 1918, Richard reported sick to a field ambulance. He was diagnosed with bronchial catarrh and spent time at a Casualty Clearing Station recovering. Three days after Richard went sick, the long anticipated spring offensive began, but not where Haig thought it would. German divisions stormed westward from the Hindenburg Line down the Somme valley retaking the towns that Haig’s armies had won at such cost in 1916. To meet the threat to Amiens, Haig swiftly ordered the bulk of the AIF south from Belgium to the Somme. The situation was desperate and in ordering Australian and British brigades into the breach, Haig issued his famous “backs to the wall” communique. The German advance was finally halted by two Australian Brigades at the village of Villers Bretonneux on Anzac Day 1918. German artillery on Hill 170 above Villers Bretonneux could have easily shelled Amiens

 

When Richard rejoined the 25th on 6th May, the battalion was in billets at Rivery on the outskirts of Amiens engaged in supplying work parties and strengthening trench lines.

In June, the battalion launched a limited but highly successful attack against German positions on the heights at Morlancourt. June had also witnessed the creation of the Australian Army Corps under the leadership of the Australian Lieutenant General John Monash. Monash had devised a tactic which he was sure would produce positive gains and his first opportunity to test his theory was at Hamel on 4th July.

 

For a week prior to the attack, the artillery had bombarded the German lines with high explosive, gas and smoke every morning. On the day of the attack the gas was omitted but the German defenders donned their gas masks anyway, while the Australians which included the 25th battalion, advanced behind the artillery barrage accompanied by tanks with aircraft dropping supplies of ammunition, water and trenching tools. Monash planned for the battle to last 90 minutes; in fact the final objective was reached in 93 minutes.

 

Buoyed by the success of Hamel, Haig had Monash plan an even bigger offensive which employed the same tactics which had been so successful previously. For this battle, Monash would have at his disposal all five Australian divisions, three Canadian Divisions and two British Divisions supplemented by squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps and the Australian Flying Corps, hundreds of tanks and thousands of artillery rounds. Richard and his mates in the 25th Battalion lined up on the jumping off tapes at 5:00am on 8th August.

 

The gains in territory were spectacular and thousands of prisoners and numerous pieces of equipment such as field guns and machine guns were captured. Many of those trophies can be seen in parks right across Australia. The German Field Commander, Ludendorff, described 8th August as the “blackest day” for the German army. In follow up operations the following day, Richard Moore received a gun shot wound to his right forearm. He was taken to the 20th Casualty Clearing Station and by the 12th August was in the 1st General Hospital at Stourbridge near Birmingham.

Richard’s wound was a through and through and no bones were damaged. He was discharged to a 14 day furlough on 26th August, probably with his arm still in a sling. At the end of his furlough, Richard reported to the convalescent depot at Hurdcott where his arm healed and he was assessed as to his fitness. Between the 9th and the 21st September, Richard was in a depot at Weymouth and then moved on to Sutton Veny.

 

On 15th October while at Sutton Veny, Richard was AWL for three days. He was fined six days pay. Richard was by that time passed fit to rejoin his unit, except for the fact that the 25th Battalion had ceased to exist. During the course of the war, the 25th Battalion had been reinforced 21 times; Richard was among some of the last reinforcements. Yet in spite of this fact, by October of 1918, the 25th Battalion was below half strength. Those still in the ranks were formed into two companies and subsumed into a sister battalion, the 26th.  On 22nd October, Richard was transferred as a reinforcement to another Queensland battalion, the 9th. On 21st November Richard sailed from Southampton to join the 9th Battalion seven days later. By that time the war was over.

 

At the end of the war, the Australian government was determined that no Australians would be included in the occupation forces in Germany. There was however the issue of transporting almost 250,000 personnel back to Australia with a severe shortage of suitable shipping. This meant that for those men in Europe, they would have to remain in place until transport could be arranged. The 9th Battalion, with the exception of those few veterans who had been the first ashore at Gallipoli three and a half years earlier, were in camp at Charleroi in Belgium. The Anzacs got to go home first.

 

Charleroi had for the four years of war been occupied by the German Forces and the Australian troops were employed in repair and salvage work. On 9th February 1919, Richard reported sick to the 20th Casualty Clearing Station (what would be called today a field hospital) where he was diagnosed with pleurisy. Five days later his mother was informed by telegram that her son was dangerously ill. On 21st February 1919, Private Richard Moore died of pneumonia. He was buried at the Charleroi Communal Cemetery in Belgium.

 

Richard’s mother as the sole beneficiary of his estate was granted the balance of his pay book and a war gratuity. She also received his medals and commemorative plaque.

Richard’s headstone bears the inscription THOUGH LOST TO SIGHT HELD IN MEMORY DEAR.

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