Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Eric Howard Ridgway was born on 30th of May 1893 as an only child with his Mother and Father, He grew up in the town of Wirrabara, Myrtle Bank, Unley, South Australia, he worked for a job as a Station hand and a farmer, his next of kin was His Mother, Jemima Jane Ridgway. When he enlisted at the age of 21 years and 11 months old on 31st May 1915, he weighed 65.5kg, had a height of 5 foot 9 and a half (176cm), had blue eyes he had a fair skin tone, had snowy hair, and followed a religion of Protestantism.

Eric Ridgway enlisted on the 19th of May in 1915 in Keswick, and his Certificate was admitted on the 31st of May, he then embarked from Australia on September 14th on the HMAT A70 Ballarat to Suez in Egypt, where he joined the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in Gallipoli, he was part of the 3rd Light Horse Regiment in the 1st Light Horse Brigade and was part of the 2nd Australian Division Signals Company which performed cavalry reconnaissance and communications to headquarters which were mainly useful in flat terrains such as hill, plains, and desserts. He then trained in Egypt and then was sent to Mudros on the 13th of November and then to Gallipoli on the 4th of December. The 1st Light Horse Brigade was deployed without horses and after the failure of the August offensive, the Anzac forces evacuated the peninsula with his regiment evacuating on the 14th of December. After the evacuation, his regiment was assigned to the ANZAC-mounted division for Sinai and Palestine operations.

His Regiment was moved back to Egypt to regroup tend to the sick and protect the Nile. He fell sick on the 12th of April and was transported to the 3rd Australian General Hospital in Abbassia where he recovered for around 20 Days. On the 18th of May, his regiment regrouped to the Suez to reinforce the Suez Canal. Eric Howard’s first real battle would be on the evening of the 3rd  of August, the Ottomans would launch an attack from Katia on Romani with the 3rd Ottoman Infantry Division, the 1st Light Horse Brigade was the first force to encounter the approaching Ottoman forces, which they were able to hold off until retreating on the dawn of August 4th, throughout the day they were reinforced with the 2nd Light Horse Brigade as well as the 5th Mounted Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifle Brigade which was able to push the Ottomans back to Katia by nightfall.

Eric was transported to France on the H.M.T “Corsican” transport cruiser ship on August 28th, where he arrived in Southern France Bordeaux Etaples where he would serve on the Western Front in Calais. After around a month Eric was transferred to England because he had mild heart problems and was diagnosed with Bronchitis, due to his breathing in dust, smoke, fumes, and pollution, causing airways in the lungs to inflame. He was transported to a hospital in Southall on 25th November, his regiment participated in the Maghadaba Offensive on the 23rd of December 1916 and the Rafa offensive on January 9th, 1917, but due to his sickness, he was not present during these battles.

He returned to France on the S.S Princess “Clementine” on the 19th of January 1917 and was attached to the 2nd Australian Division Signals School where he was taken on strength to headquarters in the 2nd Division Artillery Column on the 9th of April 1917, and was transported overseas to the 4th Australian Field Brigade on 18th of April 1917, in Palestine so he could re-join his unit for the upcoming 2nd Battle of Gaza on 19th in April 1917. The battle resulted in a victory for the Ottomans due to their heavily entrenched positions.

After the second defeat in Gaza, he was transferred to the Western Front again to serve for defensive purposes in the trenches from 21st April 1917 to 14th September 1917 where he fell sick again.

He embarked on Palestine on the 27th of October and participated in the 3rd battle of Gaza on the night of November 1st, 1917, after fierce fighting the Commonwealth units were able to break the stalemate and capture Gaza on the 7th of November. With Gaza taken Ottoman positions collapsed and the 3rd Light Horse would participate in the first battle of Amman and the raid of Es-Salt village with orders to cut railway lines from Damascus but Ottoman counterattacks made allied Units withdraw from both offensives. The Ottomans with the support of 2 German brigades would launch a counterattack on the 14th of July 1918 on Abu Tellul in which Ottoman forces were overwhelmed by entrenched positions and British counterattacks causing the Ottomans to withdraw on the same day. Eric Howard was diagnosed with Diarrhea and sent to hospital on the 21st of September for three weeks to recover. On the 28th of September  his unit fought at the battle of Doiran without him, last Allied attack on the Ottomans. Eric Howard re-joined his unit on the 13th of October and then the Ottomans surrendered on the 30th of October causing Eric’s regiment to be disbanded. He was reassigned to the Western Front to spend the remaining days on guard watch in the trenches until the Armistice was signed on November 11th at 11:00 bringing an end to WW1.

After the armistice was signed the 1st Light Horse battalion’s horses were either transferred to the Indian calvary or put down.  . Eric Howard embarked back to Australia on the 15th of May 1915 on the H.T. “Ypiranga”. Eric Howard was awarded 3 medals after WW1, the British war medal, The Victory Medal, and the 1914-1915 Star. Eric married a woman named Doris and had 2 children named Jean and Ronald. Eric Ridgway died on 26th of May 1982 with an unknown cause of death at the age of 88, and his wife died in 2001 at the age of 105. Eric Howard Ridgway was buried in Barmera Cemetery in South Australia where his grave lies there to this day.