Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Edgar Frederick DAWSON

Distinguished Conduct Medal                                 Recommednation;

‘At Glencourse Wood during the period 25th/27th September 1917 this Warrant Officer did splendid work and showed the greatest courage and initiative in organizing parties and forwarding ammunition and water to the frontline, also in clearing wounded from the forward area. Although suffering severely from shell shock on the afternoon of 26th September, he refused to be evacuated and carried on until incapacitated on the 27th. The example set to all ranks was of the very highest order and was of great value in keeping the men steady at a critical time’.

Recommended by H.E (Pompey) Elliot, Brig-General Commanding, 15th Inf.Brig

Sgd J.T Hobbs  Major-General, Commanding. 5th Australian Division 

Edgar Dawson enlisted in July 1915 as recruitment was being heavily promoted to achieve the 50,000 strong army the politicians had promised the British.

Edgar would join the reinforcements for the heavily depleted 7th battalion decimated by fighting in the Dardenelles. Many Bendigo and Eaglehawk men were assigned to this Battalion which was led by Major General Harold  ‘Pompey’ Elliot. He sailed in the January 1916 which meant he missed the fighting on the Dardanelles Peninsula  and he would join his battalion in the desert camps in Egypt where the Australian Imperial Force was integrating troops arriving almost daily with the survivors of the ill –fated Gallipoli campaign. 

The Bendigoian weekly reported in November 1917:-

Regimental-Sergeant-Major E. F.DAWSON,                                       Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Dawson, of Kangaroo Flat, have received a cable message from their son, Regimental-Sergeant-Major E. F. Dawson, stating that he was in the best of health ,and had been awarded the D.C.M.                                                                                         R.S.M Dawson sailed on 29th January, 1916, and has been on active service in France since June, 1916, being once wounded. He sailed as a sergeant, and has since gained his promotion in the trenches.

The Virtual War Memorial provides more insight into the battle that Edgar Dawson was to be awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal: - The British and dominion advance began on schedule at 5.50 am on the 26th, with the 4th and 5th Divisions, on the left and right respectively, taking the lead in the I ANZAC sector. The infantry advanced behind a heavy artillery barrage - the noise of this was compared to a roaring bushfire - and they secured most of their objectives without difficulty. To the south, the 15th Brigade, which after its efforts the previous day had been reinforced by two battalions from the 8th, secured not only its own objectives but those allocated to the neighbouring 98th British Brigade. The Germans launched several counter-attacks but these were thwarted by the heavy defensive artillery barrages used to protect the infantry consolidating on their objectives; this was a feature of the Plumer battles. The battle cost 5,770 Australian casualties.[1]

Regimental Sergeant Major Edgar Dawson would receive the DCM for this action at the battle of Polygon Wood as would fellow Bendigo resident Henry CLUCAS of Mt Korong Road, a Corporal in the 29th Battalion.  

SERVICE DETAILS:  

Service Number: 4472
Place of birth: Kangaroo Flat, Victoria
Religion: Church of England
Occupation: Labourer
Address: Kangaroo Flat, Bendigo, Victoria
Marital status: Single
Age at enlistment:  21
Enlistment date: 8 July 1915
Unit name: 7th Battalion, 14th Reinforcement
Embarked: HMAT A32 Themistocles on 28 January 1916
Final Rank: Regimental Sergeant Major
Unit: 57th Battalion
Distinguished Conduct Medal Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 95, Date: 27 June 1918
Fate: Returned to Australia 8 January 1919

‘At Glencourse Wood during the period 25th/27th September 1917. The fighting is better known as battle at Polygon Wood. Charles Bean describes the fighting on the 26th of September, 1917:- ‘The control of the battle passed out of the hands of the generals into those of the platoon officers and sergeants – newly promoted boys. Those behind could only sit and wait with tense anxiety for news of the fight while the Victorians and British had the terribly trying task of advancing over the scene of yesterday’s counter-attacks, where the line was still partly unrestored. The first good news came 50 minutes from the start, when German prisoners were seen coming back out of the battle. Then came more prisoners behind them: in fact, there were ‘strings of prisoners fairly treading on each other’s heals’, as an enthusiastic clerk shouted down the telephone. The next news was of captured machine-guns, blockhouses, and more prisoners. The very best came from the left, where our line swiftly reached the further ridge, behind which we had seen, for many days, he ruins of Zonnebeke. Next the British were in Zonnebeke itself.’ [2]

[1] Virtual War Memorial Australia https://vwma.org.au/explore/campaigns/19

[2] The Western Front Diaries of Charles Bean, Edited by Peter Burness. Published by the Australian War Memorial. P.353