Virtual
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Australia

Died of Disease whilst a Turkish Prisoner of War.

Herbert May was born near Glenelg, South Australia on the 14th of April 1885. He was the son of George and Maria Louise (Mary) May (nee Gladigau). Herbert was known as Herb and was the eldest of five children:

Florence Mary May – Born 1886

Arthur Edwin May – Born 1889

Sophie Hilda Ethel May – Born 1891

Stanley Gordon May – Born 1894  

Unfortunately, Herb’s father George died in August 1902 at the early age of 42, leaving Mary a widow with six young children.

At the outbreak of the Great War, Herb was working as a labourer when he decided to enlist. He attended the recruiting centre at what is now Warradale Barracks in Adelaide and on the 27th of November 1914, signed up ‘until the end of the War, and a further period of four months thereafter’. Herb was allocated to the 5th reinforcements of the South Australian raised 9th Australian Light Horse Regiment.

The 9th Australian Light Horse Regiment was raised in October 1914 and was mounted infantry rather than purely a cavalry regiment. This meant that Herb would ride in to battle on a horse but dismount to fight with rifle and bayonet.

Herb conducted his medical at Oaklands (Warradale) where he was passed fit to serve and described as being 29 years, 7 months old, five feet seven inches tall with a dark complexion, dark hair and brown eyes. He sported a tattoo on his right arm and had a scar on his face. Herb nominated his mother, Mary, as his next of kin, who was living in Hindley Street, Adelaide.

The assumption is that because the 9th Light Horse Regiment raised in Adelaide and then in late November 1914 moved to Broadmeadows Camp near Melbourne, Victoria, that the posted strength of the Regiment was already complete. This meant that despite Herb enlisting in late November of 1914, he was in effect on a standby list to join the Regiment. It may be that he completed some training and then was sent home for a period, or maybe he (like many other soldiers before and after him) did various duties on the barracks whilst waiting to be deployed to join the Regiment. The main body of the 9th Light Horse Regiment embarked from Melbourne in February of 1915. Herb would have been allocated to either A or B Squadrons as these two Squadrons were made up of men from Adelaide and Broken Hill. The third Squadron, C Squadron, were Victorians.

Herb embarked for the war from South Australia on the 2nd of June 1915 aboard HMAT A59 BOTANIST.  The BOTANIST was a three-year-old leased cargo/horse carrying troopship that survived the war but was wrecked on a reef in 1920. She was certainly not as comfortable as the big, leased, passenger liners.  The embarkation roll listed 37 men of whom five would not return.

He stopped briefly at Colombo on the 28th of June and changed ships, combining with the 16 men of the Victorian contingent of the 5th Reinforcements. A total of 52 men now headed to Egypt to reinforce the depleted 9th Light Horse on Gallipoli.

Whilst he was in Egypt, Herb had the good sense to make a last will and testament. Often soldiers did not do this and it resulted in significant delays to next of kin receiving pensions and other benefits. Herb’s will read:

THIS IS THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT of me, HERBERT GEORGE MAY of ADELAIDE in the State of South Australia, Labourer, and now on active military service with the South Australian Expeditionary Force. I APPOINT as Executor of this my Will my mother, MARY LOUISA MAY of 300 Hindley Street, Adelaide in the said State wife of George May. I GIVE, DEVISE, and BEQUEATH all the property, of whatsoever nature and wheresoever situate, of or to which I shall die possessed or entitled, to my said Mother.

            Dated the Twentieth day of April one thousand nine hundred and Fifteen.

These wills were a set format and men either hand wrote them by filling in the blanks, or just dictated to the Company Clerk who typed in the details. Herb embarked at Alexandria on the 11th of September 1915 for Gallipoli and was officially taken on strength of the Regiment on the same day. He arrived in Gallipoli on the 16th of September with 25 other reinforcements.  His baptism of fire took place on the 18th of September when the Turks opened fire along the whole front and maintained this bombardment for 45 minutes.

The Regiment was used purely in a defensive role after the disastrous August offensive and so Herb did not have to suffer the terror of charging into no man’s land. This did not mean he was safe; the Turkish artillery and snipers took a steady toll on the Regiment’s men.

In October of 1915 Herb was entrenched around the Rhododendron Spur feature. This was a ridge that ran from the beach all the way up to the heights of Chunuk Bair. The Anzacs had tried to advance all the way up this spur in August but were now steady in a Defensive position overlooked by Turkish troops. As the year advanced towards Winter, severe rainstorms made life very uncomfortable, it was a far cry from the heat, flies and stink earlier in the year. The strength of the Regiment continued to fall with men killed and wounded, and reinforcements not available.

In mid-November the Regiment was moved to the Canterbury Slopes section of the front, which was effectively just another part of the Rhododendron Spur Trench Complex. Life in the trenches continued for Herb and may have become even more concerning when the troops were issued with Gas Respirators and given gas training. This was as a result of a few suspicious cases of Diphtheria that were suspected as having been caused by a Turkish release of gas in October.   At this point the Regiment had reduced from what should have been just over 500 men to 270, of which 179 were front line troops. To make life even more miserable, snow began to fall around the 27th of November.

During this cold snap supplies were having to be carried by men as the tracks were impassable to the mules. A number of men were killed by snipers, so despite the cold and the men just trying to stay warm, it was a still a very dangerous place to be in the low ground with the Turkish holding the heights.

From early December 1915, the Regiment was warned of a possible evacuation. All ill and wounded men were withdrawn and all surplus baggage taken away. Excess supplies were burnt in large bonfires on Anzac Beach.  The weather became very cold as the Regiment thinned out the forward trenches in preparation for leaving. The Regiment was divided into ‘Parties’ of men for this phased withdrawal over two nights and Herb was under Major Barlow in ‘A’ Party of the second evening. Herb and his mates left Gallipoli on the evening of 18th/19th December 1915 aboard H.M.T IONIAN in the successful withdrawal, Herb was disembarked back in Alexandria in the early hours of Boxing Day 1915. The Regiment then moved to ‘Racecourse Camp’ at Heliopolis, Egypt, arriving at 0300 hours on the 27th of December 1915.

After the danger of Gallipoli, Herb and his mates must have found the return to inspections, drill, and exercises absolutely boring. There were some breaks to this monotony but it wasn’t until late February 1916 that the Regiment marched out of Racecourse Camp and moved to the East of Cairo to Serapeum on the far bank of the Suez Canal.

Herb’s time at Roadhead Camp, Serapeum would be punctuated by heat and endless piquet’s. From March to July they sat five kilometres East of the banks of the Suez Canal defending their portion from enemy interference. This camp was in the middle of the desert and beset by flies. It was scorching hot in the day and cold and wet with dew at night. Dozens of men from the AIF died of heat illness and many others were hospitalised. Herb likely took part in the successful raid on the Jifjafa Well in mid-April of 1916. This was a pre-emptive strike on the water resources of the Turks some 84 km from the Suez Canal and resulted in 41 Turkish prisoners and the destruction of the well for only one light horseman killed.

Around Mid-July 1916 the Regiment commenced sending patrols into the surrounding desert looking for Turkish or Bedouin troops.  In Late July the Regiment moved North to a new position known as ‘Bally Bunion’ and were put on short notice to advance as the Turks were observed massing their troops to the East.  The Regiment moved out and it is presumed that Herb was part of this column. Around 37 km East of the canal was a Turkish defensive position at Romani.

Herb took part in a number of successful actions commencing at Romani which saw the 9th Light Horse Regiment successfully rout German and Ottoman troops capturing 400 odd prisoners. Between the 4th and 12th of August there were major offensive actions taking place and Herb would have absolutely been in the thick of the action. At the end of this series of battles, the Regiment was so exhausted that they were ordered to dig in and rest. The Germans and Ottomans had withdrawn to El Arish, 40 km to the East. Herb was now 60 km East of the Suez Canal at Bir-el-Abd and effectively the Allied forces had prevented Suez from being threatened for the rest of the war.

Due to having to wait for supply railways to be built between Suez and Romani, it wasn’t until late December of 1916 that Herb and his mates advanced towards El Arish where the Germans and Ottomans withdrew without engaging. The enemy moved to a well prepared and heavily defended position 45 km South-East of El Arish named Magdhaba.

Herb’s Regiment advanced from the North towards a series of six Redoubts (Defended localities) surrounding the only water supply in the village.  The 9th Regiment rode as close as they could before they dismounted, and advanced on foot to conduct a bayonet charge into Redoubt number 5, forcing the Turks to surrender. By early January 1917, Herb was in Palestine after the Allies had captured the border town of Rafa.

On the 25th of March 1917, Herb’s 9th Light Horse was part of the lead Brigade heading out towards the heavily fortified town of Gaza. They departed at 1530 hours heading for Deir el Belah some 30 km South East, their mission was to prevent Ottoman reinforcements from arriving at Gaza. They were attacked by German and Ottoman aircraft and heavily shelled by artillery from Gaza. During this time the attack on Gaza had commenced and was failing. Herb’s Regiment was offered up as reinforcements for the attack and were thrust into the attack to the North-East of Gaza. After a Turkish counter attack, the 9th Australian Light Horse Regiment recaptured a critical hill and dug in.

Inexplicably, the entire mounted force was ordered to withdraw. Herb and his Regiment were to be the rear guard, and early on the morning of the 27th of March they were finally ordered to withdraw after tenaciously holding off a number of Turkish counter attacks. At about 0500 hours, as they were crossing the Gaza-Beersheba road, they were attacked by a superior Ottoman force and if not for the assistance from an Armoured Car Patrol would have suffered very heavy casualties. Unfortunately for Herb it is likely that this is where he was captured. He may have had his horse killed or he may have just run into an overwhelming force of Turkish soldiers, regardless he was not with the Regiment when they eventually made it back to Dier-el-Belah, and was reported missing.    In the Regimental War Diary that describes the battle, there is a small entry

‘Missing 2 OR’.

It often took significant time for the AIF to confirm the status of missing troops, and this was the case for Herb. Herb’s younger brother No. 3284 Private Stanley May had enlisted in August 1915 into the 16th Australian Infantry Battalion and was later re-rolled into the 48th Australian Infantry Battalion.

On the 27th of July 1917, four months after he was captured, Stanley received a telegram from the Australian Red Cross Society:

          Dear Pte May,

          We are very glad to tell you that your brother:-           No. 933 Tpr. H.G. May 9th Light Horse Regt.
           A.I.F. is a Prisoner of War in Turkey, this
           information having been obtained from A.I.F
           Headquarters. He is interned at Anatolia, and if
           you wish to write to him we advise you to send
           his letters C/o The Secretary, Prisoners of War
           Department, 54, Victoria Street, S.W. and that
           same department is sending him fortnightly
           parcels of food and 10/- in cash and the
           Secretary will be able to give you a detailed
           account of the work that is done for him.

           Assuring you of our great pleasure in being
           able to send you this good news.

                                    Yours faithfully,                                                          (sgd)    Vera Deakin

This would have been welcome news to Stanley although in reality the Turkish guards were stealing the money and food. Herb’s personal effects were bundled up by the AIF and sent back to his family in Australia via returning troopship. The single paper package contained; one belt, one purse, one brush, two knives, two pipes, seven badges, two numerals, one photo, one pair of knitted socks, three handkerchiefs, one balaclava and one woollen muffler. Mary received this package on the 12th of September 1917. By July 1917 it was known that Herb was a POW in Anatolia and later a Red Crescent Society report had him at Amanus. Herb managed to write to his family from Bagtche, near Aleppo in August 1917.

 

To Mrs. M. May

C/o Mrs W. Douglas

42 Hector Terrace, St. Leonards

Glenelg.   South Aust.

August 9th. 1917                     

 

Dear Mother,

Just a few lines hoping to find you in the best of health as it leaves me at present. I wish this War was over so we could go home again. With Kind regards to all

                    From Herb.

 

The POW camps were notoriously unhygienic places with men in cramped living arrangements with insufficient food and dirty water. Not surprisingly, Herb became ill and was admitted to hospital. His condition deteriorated and he died on the 26th of September 1917 of suspected Dysentery.

No. 445 Private Spence Campbell of the 2nd Light Horse Field Ambulance testified:

“I left him at Baghtche about September. He died at Ngde [sic] Hospital at Bor, he had fever then dysentery, he was always thin and wiry. Ngde is a big centre. He was not buried with Military Honours nor can his grave be identified. He did not write much to his People in South Australia. He had a brother on the Parramatta.”

No. 941 Trooper Arthur Tierney from the Imperial Camel Corps stated:

“I was in hospital with May when he died in Sept. 1917. Also later at the end of November or early December when Angus, Jefferys, Kimber and Sgt. Saville died”

In The Advertiser Newspaper (Adelaide, South Australia) printed and article on the 2nd of November 1918, just a little over a week before the Armistice was declared:

FREED AT LAST

SOUTH AUSTRALIANS IN TURKEY.

The military authorities have a record of the following South Australians who have been prisoners of war in Turkey:-

16961 Pte R.J. BRYANT, 4th L.H Fld Amb

2378 Pte T.D. LIGHTFOOT, 16th Battn

933 Pte. H.G. MAY, 9th L.H.: next of kin, Mrs. M. May, 253, Hindley-street

2135 Dvr E.E. MITCHELL, 4th L.H. Fld Amb

2421 Sgt. G.R. PARTRIDGE. 1st Imp. Camel Corps

1043 Pte E.B. ROSE 9th L.H.

16970 Pte D.G. WEIDENHOFER, 2nd L.H. Field Amb.

776 Cpl A.C. CURRIE, 4th Imp. Camel Brigade

3492 Pte G.M TALBOT 9th L.H.

2167 L/Cpl H.E. THORNYCROFT. 1st Imp. Camel Brigade

This list of ten names that include Herb’s, prompted his sister Florence, who was married and now Mrs William Douglas, to write to the Base Records in Melbourne, seeking information for her Mother.

 

No 8 Melbourne St

St Leonards

Glenelg Dec 25th

Dear Sir

              I am writing on behalf of my mother I would like to know if you could give Me any information about my brother No 933 Trooper H. G. May 9th Light Horse He was one of the ten Australians that was [sic] Released from Turkey it is fifteen months since we have had a letter from him and I would like if you could give me but a little information about him if you could do this for one I am sure I would be very much obliged as my poor mother has been awfully worried about him.

                    I am Yours Sincerely

                     Mrs W. Douglas

                     No 8 Melbourne St

                     St Leonards, Glenelg

                    

Of course Herb had already died.  In January 1919, Base records dutifully replied, although even they were in the dark regarding Herb’s fate at this stage:

Dear Madam,

        I have to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 25th Ultimo. And to state that no advice has been received that your brother No. 933 Private H. G. May, 9th Light Horse Regiment, who was presumed to be a prisoner of War in Turkey has been released.

If you have authentic documentary evidence at Variance with official records you should forward same to this office, when, if it is decided such action is warranted inquiries will be instituted, and the result communicated to the next-of-kin shown as mother.

                                                Yours Faithfully

                                                (sgd) J. M. Lean

                                                            Major.

                                              OFFICER IN CHARGE

                                                  BASE RECORDS

 

All hope was extinguished when Herb’s mother received the following communication from the Australian Red Cross in March 1919:

“Dear Madam, re Pts H.G. MAY, No. 933 9th L. Horse  A returned soldier, Flight Sgt. J.M. Sloss, No. 11, Flying Corps, private address Nyora Street, Malvern, on the 28th February made the following statement in regard to the above named soldier who is stated Prisoner of War.

“He was a man about 5 ft 9 ins. Slightly built, dark complexion, dark moustache. I met Casualty in a prison compound at Borre [sic] about August 1917. I made his acquaintance through his drawing rations and sometimes I used to speak to him. He never spoke of his people at home to me so I do not know anything about them. He was taken from Borre to Negde Hospital suffering with dysentery. I left Borre and was taken to Derindge and I heard there that he had died while in hospital.”

Flight Sgt. Sloss was a prisoner of war in Turkey for a considerable time, and has recently been repatriated and as you are stated as the next of kin of Pte May we thought you would be interested to receive the above report.”

Base Records was also confused about his fate and sent telegrams to London enquiring as to what had happened. They were told to wait until an enquiry was held and an answer would be sent as soon as possible. Herb’s fate was one big confusing mess.  As late as August 1919 Mary was receiving anecdotal reports from returned 9th Light Horse Regiment men that Herb was alive and recovering in England. She wrote to Base Records:

                                                   

Adelaide 1-8-19

Dear Sir

The Red Cross from Melbourne informs me that my son No 933 Private H G May 9th Light   horse   died in 1917 with fever and Dysentery and the 9th Light Horse men that came back a few months ago tells me that he   has   been   ill and   is well   now   and in   England    now   could    you    inform me   in any   way what has become of him I am sending the slip were [sic] he was released hoping to hear soon Yours Faithfully

Mrs M May

 

No. 1019 Trooper Thomas Halliday was a very good source of information after the war to the authorities trying to piece tighter the fates of the missing prisoners. Of Herb May he wrote:

"No. 993 Tpr. H. G. May 9th L.H. was captured and taken prisoner by Turkish Troops, and died of Dysentery at Nigdi Hospital in Turkey during October 1917, and was buried in the Kir Bache Cemetery Nigdi. I was a prisoner of War in Turkey and knew “Tpr. May” personally. I saw him carried down when he died. I certified to his death on the official forms from Nigdi Hospital at Bore."

It is never a simple process when a soldier dies on active service for the family to receive any entitlements. The thousands of war dead from the Great War created a good deal of correspondence to a single point, Base Records, in Melbourne. Solicitors and other persons dealing with a Soldier’s will needed confirmation of their death in the form of a written ‘Certificate’ in order to legally commence probate proceedings. Mary was required to write to Base Records and seek official notification of Herb’s death which she did in October 1919.

In the mid-1920’s the Imperial War Graves Commission set about finding all of the scattered war burials. The reason was that all of these little cemeteries could not be adequately maintained in what was becoming a very volatile region. So they determined to group these men into already established, larger, more secure cemeteries. Baghdad’s North Gate Cemetery was considered one such suitable place. In 1927 Base Records wrote to Mary May, who was now living in Kilkenny, South Australia.

 "Dear Madam,

With further reference to the report of the regrettable loss of your son, the late No. 933 Private H. G. May, 9th Light Horse Regiment, I am now in receipt of advice that it is the intention of the Imperial War Graves Commission to shortly proceed with the erection of a special memorial headstone to the soldier in Baghdad War Cemetery, Iraq, upon which will be engraved his full regimental particulars and date of death, together with any verse or epitaph selected in the form of a personal inscription……………….

……………...You are reminded that the personal inscription should not exceed 66
letters, including spaces between words (each space counting as a letter), and that the cost is estimated at 3 1/2 d. per letter.  With this exception the whole expense of providing the headstone is being borne by the government which is also responsible on a contributory basis for the future maintenance and upkeep of the military cemeteries abroad."

Presumably Mary did not wish to provide any form of engraved inscription on Herb’s headstone. It was however engraved with ‘BURIED NEAR THIS SPOT’ indicating that Herb’s remains could not be distinguished from that of other burials exhumed from the cemetery in Turkey and so were reinterred as they were originally buried. 

Mary received Herb’s medal and memorial entitlements in dribs and drabs as they became available:

Memorial Scroll on 1st of November 1922

1914/15 Star on 24th of December 1920

British War Medal on 20th of July 1921

Memorial Plaque on the 9th of February 1924

Victory Medal on 30th of October 1922

In 2019 Herb’s headstone was in very good condition with readable engraving. He is also remembered on a brass plaque in the Holy Trinity Church in Adelaide, the Adelaide National War Memorial, and on the Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial. His headstone is in Plot XXI, Row E, position 24 in North Gate Cemetery

There is yet to be a photgraph found of Herb May