Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Robert Linwood Uhd came into the world on 6th September 1897 in the quiet gold-rush town of Taradale, Victoria, the son of Danish immigrant Jens Nielsen Uhd and Mary Ann McKenna. Growing up in a large family with siblings like Olga, Laura, and Thyra, he carried the steady work ethic of his heritage and the warmth of a close-knit Melbourne household. As a young man, he settled into life as a clerk in Pascoe Vale, living at View Street—a modest, everyday existence that spoke of quiet ambition and family loyalty.

When war called in 1916, Robert, just 18 and single, stepped forward with the resolve of youth. He enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force, joining the 14th Battalion as Private 6605. The boy who had known only office ledgers soon found himself on the other side of the world, training in England before crossing to the mud and fire of the Western Front in early 1917. Barely weeks after arriving, he fell ill with measles, recovered, and rejoined his mates—only to face the brutal reality of the First Battle of Bullecourt on 11th April 1917. Wounded by a gunshot to his left arm, he was captured amid the chaos that saw so many Australians taken prisoner that day.

For nearly twenty months, Robert endured the hardships of Limburg POW Camp in Germany. In the grim routine of captivity, he managed to send postcards home through the Red Cross, brief messages that must have carried immense comfort to his worried family. Medical notes from the time hint at the slow healing of his wound and the toll of prison life, yet he held on—resilient, patient, waiting for the day freedom would come.

Released after the Armistice, he made his way back through Holland to England, then sailed home aboard HMAT Sardinia, stepping onto Australian soil again in April 1919. Discharged from the 14th Battalion on 28th August 1919, he returned to Melbourne bearing the British War Medal and Victory Medal, and the invisible scars that so many carried.

Life after the war brought new beginnings. In November 1923, Robert married Gertrude Frances Tregaskis, the youngest daughter of a local family, and together they built a home filled with love. Their daughter Margery Isabel arrived in 1924, followed by son Robert Gordon—children who gave him the joy of fatherhood and the chance to be the steady provider he had always been.

Tragically, the war's shadow lingered. By his mid-thirties, Robert's health faltered, and he passed away on 21st April 1933 at the Caulfield Repatriation Hospital, aged just 35. The exact cause remains unspoken in public records, but his early end at a veterans' facility speaks volumes about the lasting price paid by so many who served.

Robert rests at Fawkner Memorial Park, his headstone a simple, heartfelt tribute: "6605 Pte. Robert L. Uhd 14 BN. 21.4.33. Loved husband of Gertrude. Father of Marcery & Cordon. At Rest." Gertrude joined him there in 1980.

In Robert Linwood Uhd, we see not just a soldier's record, but a young man's quiet courage, a husband's devotion, and a father's gentle pride. He was one of thousands who answered the call, endured the unimaginable, and came home to live as best he could—until the burdens proved too heavy. His story is a poignant reminder of the human cost behind the medals and the dates, and a tribute to the ordinary Australians whose extraordinary service shaped our nation.