Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Life Before the War

Arthur Field was born on the 21st of August 1896. He was born in Port Adelaide. Before Arthur Field enrolled into the army, he was a Bacon Curer from the age of 12 to 16. Arthur Field had never had any experience in the army before World War I because he was so young. At this time, he had a girlfriend named Polly Field (her maiden name is unknown). They eventually got married after he returned from war. He lied about his age because he was too young to enroll. He lied and said he was 21. Arthur Field was an Anglican, and his local Church was the Saint James Church of England in Mount Barker.

Life in Service

Arthur Field enlisted into the Army on the 14th of September 1914 in Port Adelaide at the age of 16. He said he was 21 but the birthdate that he used would have made him 18. This shows that the army did not pay much attention to the ages of the soldiers enlisting. He embarked to War on the HMAT Ceramic A40 on the 22nd of December 1914. He first went to Egypt for training in preparation of the war. The ANZACs were in Egypt for 4 long months. This was an extreme physical test for the young men as the extreme heat and they did not much water to drink so it pushed them to their limits, because war was very brutal.

Arthur Field landed on the beaches at ANZAC Cove with the other ANZACs on the 25th of April 1915 as a part of the 16th Battalion. Arthur Field fought through the traumatizing battles on the beaches of ANZAC Cove, and on 29th of May was wounded for the first time, in the left elbow and leg. This wound was treated at Malta and Arthur returned to Gallipoli in July. He was wounded for the second time on 7th of August 1915, this time seriously in both legs. After treatment in Egypt, he returned to combat on Gallipoli in late September. However, he lasted here only a few days before being evacuated sick - there was foreign material in his thigh, suggesting the shrapnel from his earlier wounds had not been removed. After a period of rest, he returned again to Gallipoli at the beginning of December but was almost immediately evacuated with diphtheria. After recovering in Egypt, and further bouts of illness, he was returned to Australia for medical discharge in June 1916. He was at War in Europe for 426 days and saw and experienced things no 18-year-old should ever have to be a part of.

Arthur tried again to enlist in 1917, but although he managed to take the oath and be passed by the medical examiner, his second enlistment was cancelled due to lack of fitness.

Arthur joined up again in the Second World War, serving several months in the 4th Garrison Battalion.

After the War

After the First World War, Arthur Field came back to his girlfriend, and they eventually got married and had 4 kids. His youngest child was born on the 18th of March 1936. His name was Kevin Field, and he is my grandpa. However, it was not all a happy story as all of Arthur Field’s friends now described him as a ‘heartless, emotionless person’. He had severe PTSD and because he could not get close to anyone at war, because they could be gone so quickly, he had trouble valuing relationships with friends and family. Arthur Field joined an RSL club after returning home and was a member until he died. The war really changed Arthur Field, even though it was for a short time, it affected him for life. Arthur Field died on the 5th of August 1984 at the recorded age of 88. The way he became after war was because of what he experienced in Gallipoli. He was just an unhappy kid at the time he enrolled, wanting something to do, and it was a very honorable thing to do, and he became a very successful and praised soldier in the Port Adelaide area. In 1967, Gallipoli medals were given out to all the soldiers/families thanking the soldiers for their service. Arthur Field was given one of these, but he was also given a small version of the medal as a badge. These were only given to all the surviving soldiers, so they are extremely rare because not many of the soldiers were still alive that fought in Gallipoli, but because Arthur Field was so young, he was still alive, so he received one. These medals were given to Kevin Field (my grandpa) and are still in very good condition. He was buried at the RSL Walls in Centennial Park to thank him for his service.

The ANZAC spirit to me is a soldier or a battalion showing great courage, bravery and mate-ship. The ANZAC’s were not like any other army. They were close and would look after each other no matter what. The ANZAC spirit was formed when they stormed ANZAC Cove in the Gallipoli Peninsula. They landed in the wrong place, and the hills around the beach were extremely steep and they were fighting a losing battle throughout the whole attack. However, the ANZAC’s never gave up and kept fighting on even though they were fighting a losing battle. This ANZAC Spirit has lived on in Australian and New Zealand history and these brave soldiers are still remembered today on the 25th of April, every year.

Arthur Field embodied the ANZAC Spirit in World War I because he was one of those young men storming ANZAC Cove. He kept fighting and as soon as the main attack was over at ANZAC Cove, he moved on to the Bloody Angle where the survival rates were very low. Every day he would wake up, next to a fellow soldier of the same battalion, not knowing if him or that person would ever wake up again. Even through all of this, he kept fighting every day through the un-winnable battle. Although World War I affected him for the rest of his life, what he did was very brave and for an 18-year-old, those experiences would have been very traumatizing.