Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Arrived in Australia aged 20 years

Rank - Air Mechanic 1st Class

21 July, 1915 - Appointed Air Mechanic

18 September, 1915 - Taken on strength, Flying Corps, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force

Taken prisoner of war at Kut-el-Amara; reported to have died of malaria and diarrhoea in Turkish hands.

Note on file: 'Died of malaria and diarrhoea in Turkish hands Aug.-Nov. 1916. while Prisoner of War.'

29.4.16 - Captured at Kut-el-Amara

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

Also served in the North Battery, Coastal Defence, New Zealand

Son of Francis Luke Adams and Ellen Fanny Adams, of 105, Simeon St., Addington, New Zealand

Francis Luke Adams was born in Christchurch, New Zealand on the 8th of October 1892. He was the son of Francis Luke Adams and Ellen Fanny Adams of Addington, New Zealand. He had a younger brother, Edward, who served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces. 

On leaving school Francis served his apprenticeship as a carpenter and joiner with the firm Love and Gasson, followed by service with the New Zealand Railway Maintenance Department. At age 20, he emigrated to Australia to study Architecture.

Francis was living in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, and working as a carpenter when war broke out. He enlisted into the Australian Flying Unit on the 28th of June 1915. Francis had served briefly with the North (Number 4) Battery of the Costal Defence (NZ). On the 21st of July 1915, after a month or so of training, he was qualified as an Air Mechanic. Upon enlistment Francis was described as 'Five feet six and a half inches tall with a fresh complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair'.

At this stage in the war the Australian 'Half-Flight' with their three aircraft were deployed to Mesopotamia (Iraq). So on the 10th of August 1915, Francis embarked from Melbourne as a member of the first reinforcements for the Mesopotamian half-flight aboard the troopship RMS Persia.  Francis travelled via India, arrived into Mesopotamia, and was taken on strength on the 18th of September 1915.

The Mesopotamian Half-Flight was attached to the British 6th Division which were advancing through Mesopotamia in an attempt to drive the Ottoman forces out. In early December 1915 they were physically located at Kut-El-Amara about 160km South East of Baghdad after a failed attack and a hasty withdrawal from superior Ottoman forces. Followed quickly by the Ottomans, the British forces were surrounded. After five punishing months of being under siege, the garrison surrendered on the 29th of April 1916. Francis was captured along with nine of his fellow Air Mechanics. The British garrison of some 13 000 troops was forced to march North into prisoner of War camps in Turkey. A report of the march described the horror and suffering:

"The troops from the garrison already weak from the siege, were separated from the officers, formed into columns and forced marched over a thousand kilometres into Turkey. Tied together and harassed by hostile Bedouins along the way, the prisoners were robbed of their clothing, boots and personal possessions, or were forced to exchange them for food. Offered only limited rations, water, shelter or medical assistance, in their feeble state many suffered from dysentery, malaria, ulcerated feet and exposure. Upon reaching the Anatolian border, the Kut prisoners travelled by train and on foot further into the countryside to the internment camps."

Francis was held at Bagtche-Kioy in the Amanus mountains of Turkey. He was employed digging a railway tunnel through 18km of rock to connect Bagtche to Entilli. The prisoners here reported fair treatment. Francis was then moved to Afion-Kara-Hissar about 450km South East of Constantinople. This camp was considered fairly good but men still died in significant numbers due to their weakened state and communicable diseases. At some stage Francis was moved to Adana. The Accommodation at Adana was very poor and the insect-borne diseases rife. A letter to a friend, Miss Doris Cowan, at Bacchus Marsh read:

"Dear Mum and Dot, am pleased to say I am still alive and kicking, and anxiously waiting for the end of the war. Dot write to Mr Rayment, Surrey Hills and say that Will is also here, and will you send the following numbers to Base Records saying they are also here 16, 23, 47. Don't send any parcels." 

Prisoners often reported on the location of their mates and in some cases this is the only record of their fates. The 'Will' that Francis talks about was 49 Air Mechanic William Rayment who perished. Number 23 was Air Mechanic First Class William Lord, he died too. 47 was Air Mechanic James Munro who died in October 1916, and 16 was Air Mechanic Leo Williams. 

Francis Adams died as a POW between August and November 1916 from Malaria and Diarrhoea. He was buried at Adana Cemetery which was about 40 km South West of Tarsus in Turkey. 

In 1927 the Imperial War Graves Commission decided to consolidate the various British War Cemeteries in the Middle East and Turkey into one large cemetery in Baghdad, Iraq. This was for ease of maintenance. Francis Adams was exhumed in 1927 along with other soldiers. Unfortunately, his body was unmarked and could not be identified individually (in the days before DNA testing). As such he was re-buried with the same group of men in Baghdad and a headstone erected with the inscription 'Buried near this spot'