RODDA, Edmond
| Service Number: | 525 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 15 March 1915, Later joined 2nd Machine Gun Company after wound recovery |
| Last Rank: | Driver |
| Last Unit: | 2nd Machine Gun Battalion |
| Born: | Daylesford, Victoria, Australia, 1888 |
| Home Town: | Thorpdale, Baw Baw, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farmer |
| Died: | Traralgon, Victoria, Australia, 27 February 1970, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 15 Mar 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 525, 6th Machine Gun Company, Later joined 2nd Machine Gun Company after wound recovery | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 May 1915: | Embarked Private, 525, 22nd Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ulysses, Melbourne | |
| 10 May 1915: | Involvement Private, 525, 22nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: '' | |
| 19 Mar 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 525, 22nd Infantry Battalion, embarked Alexandria for Marseilles | |
| 12 Aug 1916: | Transferred AIF WW1, Private, 6th Machine Gun Company | |
| 8 Nov 1916: | Wounded AIF WW1, Private, 525, 6th Machine Gun Company, 'The Winter Offensive' - Flers/Gueudecourt winter of 1916/17, Wounded by enemy shell. Factory Corner, Flers, Somme, France | |
| 8 Aug 1919: | Embarked AIF WW1, Driver, 525, 2nd Machine Gun Battalion, embarked with wife (Emmie Goldsworthy Stephens (b1895, Cornwall, England: married 1917 in Penzance, Cornwall) from England for Melbourne on board HT Katoomba | |
| 21 Nov 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Driver, 525, 2nd Machine Gun Battalion |
Help us honour Edmond Rodda's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Rob Newland
Edmond Rodda was wounded in action on 8 November 1916.
On 8 November 1916, the gun crew of the 6th Machine Gun Company AIF were showing 2nd Lieutenant Frederick William Hordern Matthews DCM the lay of the land, 50 yards, (46 metres) west of Factory Corner, Ligny Thilloy, one mile north of Flers, Somme, France. The Germans would have a ‘Five Minute of Madness’s’ of bombardment which the two gun crews were caught in during the relief of No.3 section by the No.2 section led by 2nd Lieutenant Alfred Lindsay (Lin) Newland.
Killed by the enemy shell were:
2nd Lieutenant Alfred Lindsay (Lin) Newland; service number 656, from Laverton, Victoria.
2nd Lieutenant Frederick William Hordern Matthews DCM; service number 21, from Heidelberg, Victoria.
Sergeant James William Taylor; service number 457, from Shepparton, Victoria.
Private Herbert Buckley; service number 94, from Kerang, Victoria.
Private Arthur Francis Anders; service number 1280 late 454, from Deniliquin, NSW.
Private Edmond Rodda service number 525, Daylesford, VIC was wounded in the bombing.
This was Mathews third and final bombing that he had experienced when he was killed. He had won his DCM by digging out his fallen comrades including his two brothers whilst continuing to fire his Lewis gun during a previous bombing which he survived.
After Private Edmond Rodda recovered from a gunshot wound to his right buttock received during the ‘five minutes of Madness’s’ on the 8th November, he joined the 2nd Machine Gun Battalion during 1917 as a driver and returned to Australia in 1919.
All the lost men are buried next to each other in Plot 10 Row L, from grave 1 to 5 at the A.I.F. Burial Ground, Grass Lane Cemetery, Gueudecourt, Somme, France; not far from where they fell at Factory Corner where the original grave was marked shortly after the event.
Source: National Archives of Australia Soldier Records and 6th MCG Diaries “In Good Company: The 6th Machine Gun Company AIF” Author: W. A. Carne
Werribee Shire Banner Thursday 30 November 1916, page 2
Compiled by Rob J Newland
Click images to start slideshow.