Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Charles William Judd and Mary Ann Peterson; Husband of Coralie Judd (nee Duryea) of Elder Street, Wallaroo. Ernest and Coralie were married on 21 September 1911 in the Methodist Parsonage at Wallaroo, SA

Father of Edith Lorna Judd and Eleanor Mary Judd

Brother of Edith Alice Judd, Adelaide Charlotte Judd, Florence Maud Judd, May Bush Judd and Edgar William Judd.

Also worked on the Railway.

Suffered with Chillblains during his service in france

Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal

"...3266 Private Ernest Charles Judd, 32nd Battalion. A labourer from Wallaroo, South Australia, prior to enlistment, he embarked with the 7th Reinforcements from Adelaide aboard HMAT Malakuta on 27 June 1916 for Devonport, England. He joined his battalion on the Western Front, France in late November 1916. Due to illness he was evacuated to England in late January 1917 where he remained for treatment, recuperation, furlough and detachments for 15 months before rejoining the 32nd Battalion near Corbie, France on 10 April 1918. Pte Judd was wounded in action near Amiens, France, and died of these wounds the same day. He is buried in the Vignacourt British Cemetery, France. He was aged 35 years." - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)

From Francois Berthout

Pte 3266 Ernest Charles Judd,
32nd Australian Infantry Battalion,
8th Brigade, 5th Australian Division

More than a hundred years ago, under the skies of a world at war, thousands of young men fought and fell on the gray fields of the Somme which are still scarred today by the scars of the trenches and barbed wire through which were mowed down a whole generation of heroes but who, in the prime of their lives, did their duty with honor and bravery alongside their friends and brothers who, side by side, gathered, stood up and moved forward in the face of the machine guns in the name of peace and freedom and who, on the soil of a country they did not know but which they defended with love and determination under bullets and shells, gave their today to give us a tomorrow, a better world for which they gave their all in the most unspeakable sufferings which they shared and through their sacrifices, transmitted to us the torch of peace, the light of a hope for which they gave their lives, the light of the remembrance that I will always carry with gratitude, with love and respect for them and their families who gave so much for our beautiful France where so many of these young boys rest in peace today and on whom I will watch forever to bring them back to life, so that their names and their stories never fade, so that their sacrifices are never forgotten so that these young men, these heroes immortalized in our hearts live forever.

Today, it is with the utmost respect and with the deepest gratitude that I would like to honor the memory of one of these young men, of one of my boys of the Somme who, for our tomorrow, gave his today.I would like to pay a very respectful tribute to Private number 3266 Ernest Charles Judd who fought in the 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion, 8th Brigade, 5th Australian Division of the Australian Imperial Force, and who died of his wounds 105 years ago, on the 20th June 1918 at the age of 35 on the Somme front.

Ernest Charles Judd was born on October 31, 1882 in Norwood, South Australia and was the son of Charles William Judd (born in 1851, died on July 25, 1920 at the age of 69), and Mary Ann Judd (née Peterson, born on June 28, 1851 in Adelaide, died on May 31, 1918 at the age of 66) who married on January 23, 1873 in Unley, South Australia. In addition to Ernest, four daughters were born of their union, Adelaide Charlotte Judd (born on August 18, 1874, died on July 7, 1958 in Port Lincoln, South Australia, at the age of 83), Florence Maud Judd (born in 1877, died on January 6, 1953 in Gawler, South Australia, at the age of 76) ,Edith Alice Judd, May Judd, then a second son, William Edgar Judd. Ernest was educated at Norwood Public School, then on September 21, 1911, married at the Methodist Parsonage in Wallaroo, South Australia, with Coralie Judd (born in 1888) and lived together in Elder Street, Wallaroo, South Australia), where Ernest worked as a railway worker. Shortly before the outbreak of the war, they had two daughters, Edith Lorna Judd then Eleanor Mary Judd.

Ernest Charles Judd enlisted on March 9, 1916 at Kadina, South Australia, in the 32nd Australian Infantry Battalion, 7th Reinforcement. The 32nd Battalion was raised on August 9, 1915 at Mitcham, on the outskirts of Adelaide, and was under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Donald Coghill, a citizen soldier without any combat experience who was formerly the Headmaster of Woodville High School. After a three-month training period at Blackboy Hill Training Camp, Ernest embarked with his unit from Adelaide, South Australia, on board HMAT A57 Malakuta on June 27, 1916 and sailed for England.

On August 22, 1916, Ernest arrived on the English coast and was disembarked at Devonport then marched to Larkhill where he joined the 8th Training Battalion for a period of intensive training on the Salisbury Plain where, among other tactical exercises in realistic war conditions, they followed a long period of bayonet fighting, hand-to-hand combat and trench attacks with artillery support, a prelude to the brutality of modern warfare on the battlefields which had to physically and mentally prepare men for the horrors they would face in the north of France but absolutely nothing could prepare them for the hell they would find themselves in in mud and blood and three months later, ready to join the front line, Ernest proceeded overseas from Folkestone on November 11,1916 for France on board "SS Eagle".

On November 12, 1916, after an uneventful day of travel on the English Channel, Ernest finally saw the sun rise on the French coast and was disembarked at Etaples where he joined the 5th Australian Divisional Base Depot, marched out to unit on the 22 November and taken on strength on November 25 in the 32nd Battalion at "H Camp", Montauban, in the Somme then on November 30, joined the front line at Trones Wood, in a position called "Zenith Trench", sector heavily pounded by German artillery and where, for the first time, Ernest witnessed the horrors of war and saw his comrades who fell around him.

On December 1, 1916, the 32nd Battalion was relieved by the 29th Australian Infantry Battalion and moved back to H Camp, Montauban then, after a short period of rest, returned to the trenches of Trones Wood on December 5 and two days later , relieved the 30th Australian Infantry Battalion at Le Transloy. On December 12, they moved back to the Trones Wood sector, at "D Camp" and the following day, marched to "Melbourne Camp", at Mametz, where fierce fighting took place on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, July 1, 1916. Here, the men of the 32nd underwent a period of training and were employed on the construction of railway tracks allowing the transport of shells and ammunition then on December 21, marched into billets at Dernancourt for reorganization and training.

On January 2, 1917, Ernest and the men of the 32nd Battalion left Dernancourt and moved for Franvillers then for Rainneville then on January 13 marched through La Neuville, Dernancourt, Fricourt, Montauban and arrived at "Adelaide Camp", near Trones Wood on January 16 but less than a week later, on January 22, Ernest fell ill and was admitted to the 13th Australian Field Ambulance and then to the ANZAC Medical Dressing Station the next day suffering from chilblains. Later the same day he was transferred at the 38th Casualty Clearing Station then admitted to the 12th General Hospital in Rouen on January 26. Four days later,on January 30, he was evacuated to England and admitted to St David's Hospital suffering from trench feet.

On January 31, 1917, Ernest was transferred and admitted to the Military Hospital in Edmonton, then after recovering, was discharged for furlough on April 24, sent to Training Depot on May 9 and marched the next day to the 1st Command Depot in Perham Down, near Salisbury plain, but on May 11, was admitted to the 1st Australian Divisional Hospital,in Bulford with venereal disease and was treated there for a period of 69 days, until July 17.

On July 18, 1917 at Perham Down, Ernest was declared "B1A" (fit for light duty only) and on November 5 at Sutton Veny, reclassified "B1A3" (fit for overseas training camp) then on November 15, he joined the Overseas Training Brigade at Longbridge Deverill and on 24 November moved to Codford where he completed his training with the 15th Training Battalion.

On January 4, 1918, Ernest was sent to the 4th Divisional Signal School in Codford then, ready to fight again, proceeded overseas for France from Southampton on March 26.

On March 27, 1918, Ernest was disembarked in Le Havre where he joined the Australian Infantry base depot, marched out to unit on April 6 and joined the 32nd Battalion on April 10 in the Somme, on the front line of Hamelet, near Villers- Bretonneux where the Australians definitively stopped the German offensive called "Operation Michael" on April 25 during a brave and daring counterattack which swept away the Kaiser's army.

On April 25, 1918, Ernest and the 32nd Battalion marched to Corbie, west of Vaux-Sur-Somme with the objective of preventing the Germans from crossing the Somme Canal and there faced heavy enemy bombardment, including gas shells but firmly held the line in this sector from where they were relieved on June 1 by the 51st Australian Infantry battalion and moved to Rivery, east of Amiens and were billeted in a hospice, on the present site of the retirement home in Rivery and here, alternated between rest and exercise, including a day in Amiens where Ernest and his comrades enjoyed baths and aquatic sports in the Somme river during the day of June 7 and then on June 14, they embarked by motorized buses for Pont-Noyelles and took the trenches in front of Sailly-Le-Sec where unfortunately, on June 20, 1918, Ernest met his fate and was very severely injured by shrapnel in his back, his buttocks and also suffered of a penetration and perforation of his abdomen. He was immediately evacuated from the front line and admitted to the 15th Australian Field Ambulance then to the 20th Casualty Clearing Station in Vignacourt where he died a few hours later at the age of 35.

Today, Ernest Charles Judd rests in peace alongside his friends, comrades and brothers in arms at Vignacourt British Cemetery, Somme, and his grave bears the following inscription: "The dearly loved husband of Coralie Judd, Wallaroo, South Australia."

Ernest, young and brave, loving and courageous father, man of loyalty, it is with the greatest determination that more than a hundred years ago, alongside your friends, your comrades, shoulders straight and head held high under your slouch hat, you responded to the call of duty, to the call of your country to come to the aid of France and animated by a proud and valiant heart, behind the bagpipes and the bugles, you marched pushed forward by the courage of the whole young and strong Australian nation whose sons and daughters, united by the ANZAC spirit, did more than what was asked of them on the battlefields of northern France and who, brought together by the most beautiful bond of camaraderie, fought like lions without ever renouncing the causes for which they had all risen and in the dark trenches, among the howls of the devastating artillery which rained down despair and death in whirlwinds of steel, face to the enemy lines, their eyes turned towards their destinies, in spite of the doubts and the fears which gripped their legs and their hearts, they all held the front line admirably without ever taking a single step back and found, among this fury of a world gone mad, the light in the brotherhood that gave them the strength to look death in the eye and go over the top under a deluge of bullets and the thunder of cannons that, like a dragon, ignited the world in the absolute horror of a senseless war that drove so many young men to kill each other when they could have been friends and, watching over each other in this quagmire of mud and blood, they fought with determination with hope and the conviction that this war would put an end to all wars, that they fought the good fight and stood up without fail in the face of machine guns, fire and grenades in the name of peace and freedom that many of them never could see and in which they could never live and grow and through the blood red poppies, sowed the hope of a better world that they could give to their children and future generations then in this hope that kept them alive, strong and brave, they climbed the wooden ladders to rush bayonets forward into an ocean of mud bruised by the barbed wire which transformed once peaceful landscapes into slaughterhouses, open-air cemeteries through which were heard the distress and the howls of agony of so many young boys who were caught too soon in death.At the gates of a hell never seen before, the young Diggers, through Pozieres, Flers, Amiens, Villers-Bretonneux did their duty with absolute bravery alongside their French brothers in arms and were thousands of them at never to see the sunny shores of beautiful Australia again, where they were born and who mourned their loss, but through the poppy fields of the Somme, they made their country proud. Through their sacrifices, their actions and their courage, they preserved our humanity, they preserved the values that define us, they preserved the peace and freedom in which we stand eternally grateful in front of them and their white graves which remind us every day how fragile the world is and how much our lives are precious and it is this gratitude towards them, deep in my heart that guides me to honor with respect, with care and love the memory of these men who will always be loved as our sons and on whom I will watch over forever with loyalty as a father would watch over his sons so that their memory never fades, so that their faces and their names, as well as the friendship which unites the Australian people and the people of France, live forever.

Thank you so much Ernest, for all you have done for my country whose gratitude, love and respect will be forever yours.At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember him,we will remember them.