Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

BIOGRAPHY FOR:

PATRICK JOHN DOWD

Born in June 1887 in Terowie, Goyder, South Australia, Patrick John Dowd was a soldier in World War 1. He was age 28 when he embarked on the HMAT Benalla A24 as a part of the 27th Battalion, 6th Reinforcements. Before he enlisted on Aug 2nd, 1915 in Keswick, he was a single man working as a railway porter and before this, he attended Christian’s Brothers College.

His journey at the war was a long one, a total of 3 years and 167 days abroad and he managed to obtain a military medal and a mention in both the Commonwealth and London Gazette. When he started this voyage, he was at a height of 5 feet, 9 and a quarter inches and weighed 175 lbs. His chest measurement was 36 inches and his complexion was dark and he had blue eyes and brown hair. Dowd was a Roman Catholic with 6/6 eyesight in both eyes.

Dowd boarded the HMAT Benalla A24 on the 27th of October 1915, heading for Egypt. The 27th Battalion later left their rest camp on the 6th of January 1916 and arrived in Alexandria after a four-day travel to Tel El Kebir for training camp. They stayed there for the rest of January until the 3rd of February when the Battalion left for Moascar and proceeded to stay in camp, east of the Suez Canal. Dowd stayed there until the 27th of February, when he was allotted and proceeded to join the 10th Battalion in the training base in Zeitoun, Egypt. He was taken on strength the next day to Serapeum, Egypt, officially leaving the 27th Battalion to join the 10th Battalion.

From there, he proceeded to Alexandria to join the rest of the 10th Battalion. Then on the 3rd of April, he and the rest of the Battalion disembarked at Marseilles and proceeded to the Western Front, where they were involved in bitter trench warfare. There were several moments during this time like on the night of the 7th of June, when there was considerable artillery occurring on both sides of the war. The 10th Battalion was heavily shelled in several places- V.C. Avenue was also shelled and damaged while the D and C companies were subjected to rifle grenades. They suffered one casualty that night. Then, the next day, the enemy severely shelled over company A with the shrapnel doing considerable damage. Their captain, Captain Hamilton wisely advised his men to get away from the shells in time. Then on the 10th, the enemy shelled along their fronts.

Then in late July, the 10th Battalion fought for the first time in the Battle of the Somme. When they entered the battle, the plan aimed to break through the German lines and to wear down the enemy. On the 23rd of July, the battalion captured Pozières village and Pozières heights, the rest of Pozières falling on the night of the 23rd to the morning of the next day. Because of this, the Germans aimed the bulk of their artillery towards the Australians. Attacks kept coming but by the 27th, they had taken over Pozières.

In all this action (on the 23rd), however, Dowd was wounded in and admitted to the 1st A.G. Hospital in Rouen because he was gassed. His condition was bad enough for him to be extracted to England at Havre. He was then admitted to the Southern General Hospital in Birmingham on the 5th of August, his condition labelled as severe. He stayed in the hospital for four months. While in hospital, the battalion fought at Ypres in Flanders before returning to France in the Winter.

It was on the 31st of December 1916 that Dowd proceeded overseas to France via Princess Victoria from Folkestone and on the 8th of January 1917, he re-joined the battalion. However, on the 12th of February, he was admitted to the hospital in France as he contracted piles, or haemorrhoids. He was later transferred to the General Hospital in France on the 7th of March.

He re-joined his unit on the 23rd of March, however, was wounded in the left arm on the 6th of April in action. He was transferred to the field hospital in France on the 10th of April and soon after to the Rouen stationary hospital and then from Rouen to the Oxford General Hospital in England on the 25th of April. He stayed there for four more months before being discharged to Weymouth Depot, which accommodated men not expected to be fit for duty within 6 months.

However, on the 8th of October, he contracted an infection and had to be admitted to Bulford Hospital. He was, once again, admitted to hospital on the 26th of December because of bronchial gas, and then on the 22nd of January, he was discharged from the Sutton Veny hospital. On the 30th of January 1918, Dowd travelled to France from Sutton Veny and 6 days later, on the 5th, he finally re-joined his battalion that was taking part in trench warfare. He stayed fighting there until the 11th of August where he received a general service wound (to the face) in action and was transferred to a hospital (in France). He later re-joined his unit on the 12th of September and 6 days later participated in a successful operation near Jeancourt, in which he earnt his military medal.

'During the advance from JEANCOURT on 18th September 1918, Private DOWD led an assault on a post which was covering four field guns. With four other men he captured 10 wounded and 20 unwounded prisoners and unmasked the guns. Later during the advance, he pushed forward and inflicted casualties on an enemy post, causing the garrison to withdraw, thus allowing his platoon to push forward.'

The 10th battalion left France on the 20th of December 1918 and Patrick John Dowd himself returned to Australia from England via the ship Balmoral Castle and was discharged on the 4th of June 1919. He eventually died of natural causes on May 3rd, 1970 and was buried at Cheltenham Cemetery in South Australia.

~

ANZAC SPIRIT

Patrick John Dowd demonstrated many characteristics of the ‘ANZAC spirit.’ He showed commitment towards the war because every time he was wounded or contracted an illness, he came back to war and was determined to fight for the battalion. Although he did not die in the war, he still went through a lot for his country, taking wounds multiple times. He was able to recover from his wounds and illnesses and continue fighting to the end of the war. The extract above that shows why he received the military medal demonstrates his determination to push through and gain on the enemy. This also displays immense courage, as he captured 10 wounded and 20 unwounded prisoners, and injured his enemies, causing the enemy to evacuate and the battalion to advance.

~

REFERENCE PAGE

DOWD, P n.d., Naa, accessed 11 March 2019, <https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3518349>.

Researching a Person – WW1 n.d., Amazonaws, accessed 11 March 2019, <https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/rslvwm/comfy/cms/files/files/000/001/603/original/Researching_a_person_WWI_updated.pdf>.

DOWD, Patrick John n.d., Vwma, accessed 11 March 2019, <https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/216564>.

Patrick John Dowd n.d., Aif, accessed 11 March 2019, <https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=82546>.

AWM4 Subclass 23/27 - 10th Infantry Battalion n.d., Awm, accessed 11 March 2019, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1339170>.

27th Australian Infantry Battalion n.d., Awm, accessed 11 March 2019, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51467>.

AWM4 23/27/8 - June 1916 n.d., Awm, accessed 11 March 2019, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1341876?image=3>.

Australian Imperial Force- Nominal Roll n.d., Amazonaws, accessed 11 March 2019, <https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1067585/large/5373297.JPG>.

27th Battalion n.d., Vwma, accessed 24 March 2019, <https://vwma.org.au/explore/units/2>.

10th Battalion n.d., Awm, accessed 24 March 2019, <https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/U51450>.

Australian Battlefields n.d., Anzacsinfrance, accessed 24 March 2019, <http://www.anzacsinfrance.com/1916/>.

Battle of Sommes n.d., Awmlondon, accessed 24 March 2019, <http://www.awmlondon.gov.au/battles/pozieres>.

Weymouth Depot n.d., Weymouthanzacs, accessed 24 March 2019, <http://weymouthanzacs.moonfruit.com/the-camps/4575540279>.

National Library of Australia n.d., Trove, accessed 24 March 2019, <https://trove.nla.gov.au/?q&adv=y>.

State Library of South Australia n.d., Slsa, accessed 24 March 2019, <http://www.catalog.slsa.sa.gov.au/search/