Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Eric Brentnall Harris #1815 5th Light Horse Regiment / 14th Field Artillery Brigade
The story of Eric Harris illustrates the sense of duty that many young men felt during the Great War. Having been rejected for enlistment because of a weak heart, he presented himself again for service in August 1915 and was accepted.
Eric was 19 years old at enlistment, giving his occupation as stockman. It is not surprising then that he was drafted into the 14th Reinforcements for the 5th Light Horse. He embarked from Sydney on the “Hawkes Bay” on 24th October 1915 bound for Egypt.
By the time Eric arrived in Egypt, the Gallipoli campaign had been abandoned and the AIF was being swelled from two to five divisions with the injection of a flood of recruits like Eric. There was only a limited need for Light Horse men but the newly created divisions had a need for horsemen to handle the teams that would pull the 18 pounders and howitzers of the Field Artillery that was attached to each infantry brigade. Thus it was that on 7th March 1916, Eric was transferred to the 53rd Battery of the 11th Field Artillery Brigade. The brigade arrived in Marseilles on 30th June 1916 and proceeded to Havre to collect their guns, ammunition limbers and horses.
The unit was deployed in the Armentieres sector during the latter half of 1916. In the spring of 1917, the artillery supported the 11th Infantry brigade as they pursued the enemy during the withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line. In May 1917, all the Australian Divisions moved north to Flanders in preparation for the offensives planned for that summer. In June of 1917, just after the commencement of the battle of Messines, Eric was granted two weeks leave. Soon after his return to the unit he was promoted from Gunner to Bombardier (the equivalent rank to corporal in the artillery).
General Plumer, after his success at Messines began to press home the advantage by ordering a series of advances eastwards from Ypres towards the low ridge on which sat the village of Passchendaele. During one such action at Broodseinde Ridge on 2nd October, as the Field Artillery was supporting the 2nd Infantry Division AIF, Eric Harris was overcome with mustard gas. He was transferred to a Field Ambulance Unit and then evacuated to England, arriving at Reading War Hospital on 24th October 1917. Mustard gas was a particularly effective weapon in the wet conditions of Flanders as dampness multiplied the burning effects of the gas. More gas casualties occurred in Flanders than in any other theatre of the war.
After spending almost two months in hospital, a medical board was convened to determine whether Eric Harris was still fit for duty. The original board suggested that his condition was due in part to a pre existing vascular condition which had been exacerbated by exposure to gas; and that he was unfit for frontline service. A subsequent board sitting on 10th December 1917 agreed with the cause but recommended that Eric be discharged as permanently unfit.
Eric’s father, Edgar Harris who lived at Sinclair St East Brisbane was informed that his son had left England on 20th January 1918 and was returning to Australia. Eric was discharged from the Army as permanently unfit on 24th April 1918.
Presumably Eric returned to the family home for further recuperation but the effects of the gas aggravating his heart condition led to his death on 24th November 1918. Eric was buried in the Bulimba Cemetery by his family. It is unclear how Eric’s name came to be placed on the memorial plaque at the Coorparoo Methodist Church.