Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Charles Bright Gladstone Ricks favoured Gladstone as his Christian name rather than Charles. He enlisted for the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) on the 2nd October, 1916 in Cherry Gardens, South Australia. His Regimental number was 6151 and he joined the 27th Battalion. His parents were Charles and Mary Ricks from Cherry Gardens. Gladstone was 29 years and 6 months old when he enlisted and was a fair-haired, grey-eyed young man with a “medium” complexion whose occupation was a market gardener. He was 5ft 7ins tall and weighed 147lbs. On his medical history it was noted that Gladstone had good eyesight and a vaccination scar on his left arm. He had a scar above his left eyebrow and his teeth were in good condition. Gladstone’s religious denomination was Methodist.
Gladstone embarked on the 7th November 1916 on the “Afric” disembarking at Plymouth, England on the 9th January 1917. He remained in England until heading overseas to the front line in France on 5th April 1917. Gladstone continued to serve with the 27th Battalion for the next couple of months but came down with Trench Fever and was taken by the 5th Field Ambulance for treatment but then transferred first to the 10th General Hospital at Rouen in France and then back to England on the “Warilda” to the 1st Southern General Hospital in Edgbaston. He recovered from the Trench Fever by the end of July but then had a couple of Scabies outbreaks which resulted in him not fully recovering until early November. On the 10th November he headed back to France disembarking at Havre and then proceeding to Belgium to rejoin his Battalion. Unfortunately just over 1 month later he had scabies again and was in hospital again for a couple of weeks and this happened again during February 1918. He rejoined his Battalion again on 19th February and on 14th March was given 1 week’s leave in Paris. By the end of April he was back in hospital with a bad case of dermatitis and for the next few weeks he was transferred to various hospitals for treatment until finally rejoining his Battalion on 4th June 1918. Gladstone was killed in action on 10th June 1918 in a region a few miles north east of Villiers Bretonneau. Gladstone was in the same Battalion as another Cherry Gardens soldier, Jesse Strange, and it would appear they were both killed in the same battle although Gladstone’s family recite a story that Gladstone was wounded during the battle and was calling for the medics to “get me out of here” and must have died from his injuries before getting to the hospital whereas Jesse’s body was never found. Gladstone had prepared his will long before the war on 26th November 1913 bequeathing his estate in full to his mother. Among his personal effects to be returned to his parents were 2 identity disks, 1 wallet, photo, letter, testament, notecase, metal wrist watch (damaged) and 9 coins.

https://www.cherrychatter.org.au/Fallen%20Heroes%20of%20Cherry%20Gardens.pdf