Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Cyril Andrew James Harris, was born on the 22 April, 1895. He was born in Corryong, Victoria. When he was born, his father, James Harris (1862 to 1941), was 32 and his Mother, Mary Anne, nee Waters (1868 to 1908), was 27. He had 4 brothers and 4 sisters; Agnes May (1899 to 1973), Laurence John (1897 to 1936), Annie Crawford (1901 to 1979), Alexander Beaumont (1903 to 1916), Margaret Doreen (1905 to 1990), Hunter Steele (1903 to 1983) and Harold Hugh Thomas (1892 to 1954).

On the 6 October, 1916, Cyril enlisted in the AIF, at Melbourne Victoria. He was 21 at the time. Cyril was given the service number 3184. He was taken on strength with the 25th Reinforcements of the 8th Light Horse. When Cyril enlisted he was single and working as a carpenter. On his last leave, before he went off to war, he went home and helped with harvest. After that, he was to be sent off to Egypt.

When Cyril enlisted, he was 5 foot, 5 inches tall (168 cm), and weighed 129 lbs (59 kg). He had blue eyes, dark hair, and his complexion was given as dark. Cyril was Presbyterian at the time of enlistment. Records show that Cyril had the distinctive mark of a mole on his right breast.

Cyril left Australia on the 6 February, 1917. He embarked from Sydney, NSW, and was transported to Egypt on the RMS Karmala. On the 11 March, 1917, at 9.00 am, he arrived at Port Suez (Suez Canal). He then marched into Details Camp, Moascar, at 10.00 pm that night. On March 12, he was put into tents, and issued with rifles. Between March 13 to 18, he started practising drills while the week after that saw him practising shooting muskets. Finally, on March 26, he did bayonet fighting drills. On April 18, he got his horse and carried on with mounted work.

On April 21, Cyril was admitted to hospital as he was not feeling too well. He then came out of hospital on the 25 April. On the 8 May, he left Moascar to join the 8th Light Horse Unit. May the 15 was Cyril’s first time under fire. In the diary from the war, he wrote down all the dates and events that happened. On May 30, he started out on a stunt.:

“May 30th. 7 o’clock started out on a stunt to try and burn the crops that the Turks were harvesting. 12 pm, about 6 miles past Tel-el-Jimmy, where we stopped until daybreak when we moved another 4 miles, we came to the crops, but before we could do much, Turkish shell fire got too heavy, which made us retire back. We reached camp at 10 o’clock pm.”

Cyril served in 2 units. He first served in the 8th Light Horse, then was transferred to the 3rd Light Horse for a period of time, before being transferred back to the 8th Light Horse. He ranked as a Private and then a Trooper.

Cyril also wrote about another interesting stunt:

“May 22nd, at 3 o’clock pm, started out on a stunt, went out as far as El Buggar that night, getting there an hour before daybreak.
May 25th, then moving up a little and took up a position for the day, about 5 miles from Gaza, at 4 o’clock pm, started back going as far as The Waddie that night, getting there at 12 o’clock pm, where we linked up to feed the horses and had a couple of hours sleep, when we moved off again at 3 o’clock am, for the beach. Arrived there at 9.00 am, May 24, That stunt was too keep watch on the Turks, while the engineers blew up the bridge between Maghdalaba and Beersheba.”

Cyril had quite a few injuries and illnesses while in the 8th Light Horse Regiment. As I said in the previous paragraph, Cyril was admitted to Hospital on April 21, and remained there until April 25, as he wasn’t feeling too well.

On July 5, Cyril was admitted into the field hospital with a sprained knee; he had been kicked in the knee, by a horse. Cyril also got shell wounds to his scalp. When he was coming back to Australia, on the 25 November, he was admitted to the ship's hospital, with malaria. That only lasted a day, as he was discharged from hospital on the same day.

Cyril wrote lots in his diary. Here is a series of entries:

July 3rd, at 12 o’clock pm started out for a day’s observations, put in next day a few miles out past El-buggar. Got shelled. Got back at night.
July 5th, went into Field Hospital with knee sprained on July 1st.
July 6th, at 6 o’clock am, went by field motor, 2 miles to catch train for Rafa. Arrived at Rafa, at 7.30pm. Stopped in Rafa Hospital for the night.
July 7th, at 2 o’clock pm left for El-Arish, by train, arrived at 5.30pm and stopped in El-Arish Hospital for the night.
July 8th, at 8 o’clock am, left for Thantara by train, arrived at 3 o’clock pm, and went into Thantara Hospital for a day.
July 10th, at 8.30 am left by train for Cairo and arrived at 14, ed. G.H, at 12 o’clock am, and was put into ward by G.G. Had a few days bed with knee in splint.
July 23rd, went on Red Cross trip to Ma’adi, took train to the Nile River, where we got a boat, and sailed down to Ma’adi, where we were given a drink of tea in the gardens, went back the same way.
July 24th, got the hospital leave into Cairo.
July 28th, got discharged from 14 ct. G.H, and went to No 7 Convalescent Hospital at Montassah, near Alexandria.
August 13th, 1917, Came out of Convalescent and went into details, Moascar, done a little drills and camp duties for a few days.

Cyril’s records fail to say when he returned to Australia, but the 8th Light Horse Regiment, started towards home on the 30 October, 1918. He was finally discharged on the 17 February, 1920.

For his service during World War 1, Cyril was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

Cyril came back from the war but, sadly, died just a few years later. He and his fiance went on a plane joy ride at Port Melbourne but the plane crashed and neither of them survived.

In the 24 October, 2014, edition of the Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society website published information of the accident:

Then came the first licenced airfield. On 30 May, 1921, Aerodrome Licence No.1 was issued for the Fishermans Bend Aerodrome, ‘behind the dunes’ in Ferry Road (now Williamstown Road).

On 22 May the following year, tragedy struck. Pilot Hubert Ross conducted a joy-flight for Cyril Harris and Jessie Dorman. When heading towards the Bay, the aircraft suddenly spun and crashed into the yard of a cottage. There were no survivors. Being possibly the first aircraft accident investigation in Australia, the Superintendent of Aerodromes wrote: ‘I am of the opinion that the accident was due to the unfortunate jamming of the heel of Miss Dorman’s shoe, thereby rendering the rudder control useless and causing the machine to dive to the ground’.

Extract from "Light Horsemen of the Upper Murray", Year 5 and 6 Project, Corryong College.