Francis Walter (Rudd) FRY MM

Badge Number: S8842, Sub Branch: Brinkworth
S8842

FRY, Francis Walter

Service Numbers: 63, 63c
Enlisted: 18 January 1916, at Adelaide
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 10th Infantry Battalion
Born: Stone Hut, South Adeliade, April 1892
Home Town: Adelaide, South Australia
Schooling: Port Germein Public School, South Australia
Occupation: Labourer
Died: Prospect, South Australia, Australia, 17 May 1954, cause of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: Dudley Park Cemetery, South Australia
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World War 1 Service

18 Jan 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 63, 43rd Infantry Battalion, at Adelaide
9 Jun 1916: Involvement Private, 63, 43rd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: ''
9 Jun 1916: Embarked Private, 63, 43rd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Afric, Adelaide
11 Nov 1918: Involvement Private, 63c, 10th Infantry Battalion
24 Jan 1919: Honoured Military Medal, Merris (France), Awarded for actions at Merris on night 22/23 July 1918.

Help us honour Francis Walter Fry's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Kathleen Bambridge

General Birdwood (UK) awarded his Military Medal in Adelaide on 6 March 1920.

Biography contributed by Saint Ignatius' College

Before the War
Francis was born in approximately April 1892 in Stone Hut, South Australia. Francis attended Port Germein Public School, South Australia. He later moved to 6 Charlotte Street, Adelaide, South Australia and got a job as a labourer. Francis religion was Methodism. He stayed single all through his live. His friends gave him the nickname Rudd. At the time of when Francis filled out his enlistment papers, he was 5 feet ½ and 116lbs which is 56kg.

During the War
Francis was 23 when he embarked on his journey to the war. He enlisted on 18 January 1916. The ship that transported Francis to the First World War was called HMAT A19 Afric on the 9 of June 1916. The ship made six success full trips from Australia before being sunk in the English Channel in 12 of Feb 1917 by enemy torpedos. After arriving on France Francis was placed in the 10th battalion and was a private. He first joined the 10th Battalion on 2 October 1916. During Francis’s time in the war he earned a Military Medal which is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Army and other arms of the armed forces, and to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for bravery in battle on land. He earned this medal because during the war Francis was a Runner which means he had to run messages between main bases and the trenches. On the 22nd/23rd of July 1918, at Merris, Francis had to deliver a message to the company headquarters under heavy artillery fire and machine gun fire. His courage and determination valued highly to the success of the operation. . in fact he returned from the war on the 16th of June 1919.

Francis was sick a few times. Initially he fell ill in the very cold winter of 1916/17; he recovered from that but caught mumps in April 1917 and spent several more months in England. He rejoined the 10th battalion in October 1917.

After the War
Francis returned from the war on the 16th of June 1919. The only thing he had to return home to was his parents. Few details are known of his later life but he does not appear to have married. Francis was awarded his medal once he arrived back home in Adelaide. Once he arrived home to Adelaide. Francis died on the 17 of May 1954 at the age of 61. Francis was buried in Dudley Park, Adelaide.

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