Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of Thomas and Emma Tuck, of 366, Crown St., Sydney, New South Wales

A founding member of the South Maroubra club, Sergeant Albert Victor Tuck, better known as Bert, was a club competitor and a committeeman. Bert Tuck, of Darlinghurst, had been nominated as a South Maroubra competitor in the Bondi surf gymkhana at Tamarama’s Wonderland City in February 1908 and had been a committee member.

Bert was one of the first volunteers, stationed with his regiment at Randwick. He had been a member of the part-time Sydney Scottish Rifles since 1899 as a sergeant. One of his duties was with the Scottish Rifles was as a ‘coastal guard’. Newspapers of the day show that the Scottish Rifles regiment was involved in manoeuvres around Long Bay, overlooking Maroubra, in April 1908. Soon after enlistment in August 1914, Tuck’s rank of sergeant was transferred from the Scottish Rifles to the 25th Regiment and then to D company, 4th Battalion, AIF. After being farewelled at his camp by his father and brothers, Sergeant Tuck embarked on the transport Euripides for the Gulf of Suez on 20 October 1914.

At the Anzac landing, Albert Victor Tuck and his two lance corporals were mentioned in despatches for ‘conspicuous gallantry and valuable service’ while ‘leading and instructing their men in the attack and the construction of trenches under fire’. Subsequent reports said Bert Tuck was shot during a bayonet charge on a Turkish position the next day.

Bert’s older brother Frederick Grant Tuck was also a sergeant in 40th Battalion, he only joined his Battalion “In the field” at Chapelle, Armentieres several days before he was killed when the Germans raided the 40th Battalion trenches. He was killed instantly when a German shell hit a dump of trench mortar ammunition he was standing beside.

The following article appeared in the Sydney newspapers during 1917.

‘A pathetic reminder of the fight for Gallipoli came to hand by the last mail from London, when Mr. Thomas Tuck, of Darlinghurst, received a letter enclosing a photograph of the cross which had been placed over the grave of his son, Sergeant Albert Victor Tuck. The story of the cross is a remarkable one. In a letter to Mr. Tuck, the Rev. B.C. Spencer, of Poole (England) states that during the course of his duties as military chaplain with the forces abroad he had occasion to go to the drifter Young Kenneth, then off Suvla. Before he left the vessel the skipper said to him, "I have something here I want you to take care of, at the same time handing him a wooden cross, a photograph of which is reproduced in this column. The skipper stated that the cross was found floating in the sea about five miles off Suvla, five months after the evacuation. The chaplain took the cross ashore, and when he subsequently returned to England carried the relic with him. At the earliest opportunity he set about making Inquiries, and through the Australian headquarters in London was able to trace the dead soldier's relatives in Sydney. He thereupon forwarded the photograph of the cross, together with a few particulars concerning the circumstances in which it came to be erected. It appears that Sergeant Tuck, who when he enlisted was employed in the machine room at the Sydney Government Printing Office, was wounded, probably mortally, in the landing at Gallipoli. The stretcher-bearers went out to pick him up but while they were carrying him to the beach a shell burst near them and killed the whole party. Later the body was found and buried against a cliff 30ft. above sea level. Private Reginald Tuck, a cousin of the dead sergeant, made a cross, burnt in an inscription, and fixed it over the head of the grave. How it came to be floating in the sea is matter for conjecture, but it is quite probable that it was blown away during one of the fierce gales which are known to visit the peninsula from time to time. The clergyman states in his letter to Mr. Tuck that he proposes to hang the cross in the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel at Wareham, whore thousands of Australian soldiers parade every week. It might then attract the attention of someone who knew the deceased sergeant.’