Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Gordon James Dyson was born on the 25th of September 1883 in Findon, SA although he grew up in his hometown of Magill, SA. His mother, Mrs Clara Elizabeth Dyson, was listed as his next of kin on his enlistment papers as Gordon was not yet married. Before enlisting into the war, Gordon James Dyson’s occupation was working as a baker.
 
Gordon James Dyson enlisted to serve at the war on the 1st of April 1916. When first enlisting to the war, he was ranked as a private and joined the 50th Infantry Battalion. Within the 50th Infantry Battalion, Gordon worked alongside a group of men which was named the 5th Field Bakery. Therefore, Gordon wasn’t like all the other soldiers who fought in battles during WW1, he had a rather different but very important role in feeding the hungry men who were tired, sick, injured or even fighting for their lives.
 
Many months after enlisting, Gordon James Dyson embarked on the HMAT A73 Commonwealth from Adelaide, SA on the 21st of September 1916. He then disembarked from that same ship nearly two months later in Plymouth on the 14th of November. The following day, Gordon travelled to Codford where he worked amongst the 13th Training Battalion. During WW1, Codford was known for its large training and transfer camps in the nearby area for many Australians who were waiting to move to their next destination or training and preparing for what they were going to face in the war. During Gordon’s month long stay at Codford, he would have been training with his Battalion so that he was well prepared for his first time coming into a war.
 
Then, on the 12th of January 1917, he was Taken on Strength by the Australian Army Service Corps (A.A.S.C.) from the Training Battalion. On the same day, Gordon then proceeded overseas with the A.A.S.C. from Folkstone to Ètaples so that he could reinforce with the 5th Australian Division.
 
Gordon marched in from England and arrived at his destination on the 20th of January of the same year. A week later, he had travelled from Ètaples to Rouen and was Taken on Strength by the 5th Field Bakery. Most of the time Gordon James Dyson served in WW1, he was alongside the 5th Field Bakery in Rouen. He disembarked there on the 27th of January 1917 and didn’t leave until the 3rd of August 1918 which was over a year later.
 
During the first world war on the outskirts of Rouen, there were many Commonwealth hospitals and camps stationed for soldiers. There were eight general hospitals, five stationary hospitals, one British Red Cross hospital and one labour hospital which all stayed there for most of the war due to the amount of people sick, injured, fighting for life, or recovering from their duties.
 
Throughout the time that Gordon was in Rouen, he as well as the 5th Field Bakery helped thousands and thousands of Australians who came through the hospitals that were there. The Australians came to the hospitals for a number of different reasons but Gordon and the crews one and only priority was to ensure that they were fed with some of the best food from the bakery so they could return back to the front line trenches and fight for Australia in the war.
 
Gordon James Dyson worked his shift in the bakery from 2pm till 10pm where he and three other Privates and one Corporate worked as a dough maker. Gordon and the other men who worked in his shift had to bake the dough which was made by the previous shift that worked from 6am till 2pm. However, the people that Gordon worked with changed as time went along due to sicknesses, injuries, men going on leave, men being transferred, punishments, and even deaths.
 
Gordon and his 5th Field Bakery weren’t any safer in Rouen then on the battlefields as they still came across many dangers in the kitchen as well as being attacked many times whilst baking and helping to feed thousands of others. This meant that even though the men in the bakery weren’t physically fighting in the war, they were still affected as either their selves or their workmates got sick, injured, and possibly died. However, Gordon was lucky as there was no injuries or sicknesses reported for him.
 
The first incident was on the 18th of April in 1918 when the fire alarms were set off after several orders had been received in relation to fires in Rouen’s huts, billets, camps, etc.  Then, there was a pipe explosion which occurred just as the 6am till 2pm’s shift was almost done and just before Gordon’s shift on the 25th of April 1918 which happen to be ANZAC day. Even though there was an explosion that took place on that day, it didn’t negatively impact anyone’s ANZAC spirit as the members who were part of the 4th and 5th A.I.F. Bakeries, and members of the W.A.A.C. of the Bakery took part in a pleasant social evening spent by all.
 
However, the next time the bakery came across any danger it wasn’t an accident, it was an attack. At about 12:10am on the morning of the 1st of July 1918, enemy machine guns were heard which appeared to be directly above the Bakery. Men from the bakery took immediate cover from the enemies in the trenches that were built in for this exact reason and this also meant that work in the bakery was put on hold for 90 minutes whilst under attack. The “all clear” sign sounded at about 1:40 although there were several bombs dropped causing much damage.
 
As the year of 1918 went on, the bakery became more and more in danger as the attacks kept coming. The next attack after earlier in July was on the 22nd when the air-raid alarms sounded at 12:15am and seven gun shots were fired. Luckily, there was no machine guns seen or heard and the “all clear” signal was given at 12:55am.
 
Just over a week later, on the 31st of July yet another alarm signal sounded at 11:50pm after both sirens and gun fire, and an enemy machine was plainly heard. At this time, there was no damage done so the “all clear” signal sounded at 12:50pm. However, this was not the only attack on the 31st as only an hour later at 2am, another alarm was sounded due to gunshots being fired. The “all clear” signal was sounded at 2:45am after the second attack of the day.
 
Then after all the commotion, Gordon proceeded on leave to the U.K. side by side with one of the other men who worked in the bakery on the 28th of July 1918. On the same day as he left, there was 6 or 7 gunshots but not machine guns heard or seen. Whilst on his leave, there was another attack to the bakery on the 13thof August which was two days before he returned from his leave to the U.K.
 

 
Gordon James Dyson returned home to Australia from war on the 8th of July 1919. He was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.

After the war there is not much detail into the rest of his life. He married Ethel Woodcock and passed away at 81 years of age on the 11th of January 1965 . He will always be remembered to those who knew him and those who have seen his name on the Magill Honour Board. 

Bibliography:
 
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birtwistlewiki.com.au. (n.d.). Codford - Our Contribution. [online] Available at: https://birtwistlewiki.com.au/wiki/Codford.
 
birtwistlewiki.com.au. (n.d.). HMAT A73 Commonwealth - Our Contribution. [online] Available at: https://birtwistlewiki.com.au/wiki/HMAT_A73_Commonwealth.
 
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