Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Private Louis Fletcher was born in November 1878 in Perth, Western Australia. At an unknown point in his life, Louis moved from Perth to Paskeville in South Australia. Louis family is mostly unknown, but he did have a sister, Mrs. Emma Briggs who still resided in Western Australia in the town of Claremont. She was named as Louis’ next of kin.  Louis identified as following the Church of England. For work, Louis was a Driver, the role of a driver was to operate horse-pulled vehicles. Handling horses being his job, Louis was well equipped for his role in the 9th Light Horse Regiment knowing well how to look after and ride his horse.

Louis enlisted to fight for Australia in Adelaide on the 24th of August in 1915. Louis was 36 at the time and 87 days after his enlistment on the 18th of November, Louis was boarding the HMAT A2 Geelong from Adelaide with people he would fight alongside for the next 3.5 years. Upon joining the war, Louis was assigned to the 9th Light Horse Regiment in the 12th Reinforcement and was assigned the role of Private. Louis and others were sent to Melbourne for training where soldiers learnt key concepts of war such as teamwork. 

The war experience began when upon joining the 9th Light Horse Regiment were on a defensive role with no major battles, this stayed the same until December of 1916. Throughout this time within defence, on the 13th of January 1916 Louis temporarily got promoted to Driver rank, it is unknown when this role got removed, (due to it being temporary) though likely attributed to this being recorded in 1918. True action within the war began on the 23rd of December 1916 as the 9th Light Horse were called to the Battle of Magdhaba. This battle took place in the northern Sinai desert where it was found that the route taken to Palestine was blocked by Turkish troops. The Battle of Magdhaba ended after 13 days on the 5th of January 1917. According to the Unit Diary, at this time the regiment left its position at 7:50AM and took up position at Magdhaba and at 1:30PM the whole line advanced on Magdhaba. At 4:15PM the other regimental forces continued marching as backup. The Regiment was joined by the New Zealand Mounted Rifles where horses were fed and watered. By 4:30PM troops were just 500 yards from the enemy line and by 6:00PM the troops had secured their positions and to finish the day the machine gun post was secured at 8:00PM as the rest of the battalion continued to carry out action. Just 4 days after the conclusion of the Battle of Magdhaba the 9th Light Horse found themselves in the Battle of Rafa on the 9th of January 1917 which was part of a series of battles to allow the British to recapture the Sinai Peninsula.

The First Battle of Gaza on the 23rd of March 1917 was a massive failure as the troops were withdrawn due to slow progress with 4000 casualties. The Second Battle of Gaza on the 19th of April 1917 ended in a similar way. The Battle of Beersheba on the 31st of October 1917 was one of the best planned battles within the campaign as the 4th Regiment took charge where the Turkish had few and weak forces as the Light Horse made their weak attack and Beersheba soon fell. In December 1917 the 9th Light Horse assisted in the capture of Jerusalem which helped with the Third Battle of Gaza. From April 23rd to the 29th 1918 Louis was transferred across 7 hospitals for dysentery. Many of the Turkish forces were intercepted as a part of the Capture of Jenin (part of the Battle of Megiddo). On the 11th of January 1919 Louis was found to have a bad case of Bronchitis (an inflammation in the airway), Louis was discharged due to its severity on the 5th of February 1919, embarking from Kautara for Australia. Louis returned to Australia on the 13th of April 1919.

 Louis lived for 24 more years after the war as he died at the age of 64 on February 1st, 1943. Louis grave is situated in the AIF Cemetery, West Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia. There are 2 locations across South Australia where Louis’ name is on an Honour Board; the Paskeville Honour Roll WW1 and the Paskeville Soldiers Memorial Gates.