Leslie Bryant HOWIE

HOWIE, Leslie Bryant

Service Numbers: 271, R271
Enlisted: Not yet discovered
Last Rank: Private
Last Unit: 1st to 6th (SA) Reinforcements
Born: Jamestown, South Australia, 1894
Home Town: Jamestown, Northern Areas, South Australia
Schooling: Not yet discovered
Occupation: Wheelwright
Died: 3 April 1964, cause of death not yet discovered, place of death not yet discovered
Cemetery: AIF Cemetery, West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide, South Australia
Memorials: Caltowie Public School WW1 Roll of Honor, Gawler Council Gawler Men Who Answered the Call WW1 Roll of Honor
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World War 1 Service

20 Oct 1914: Involvement Private, 271, 10th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Ascanius embarkation_ship_number: A11 public_note: ''
20 Oct 1914: Embarked Private, 271, 10th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Ascanius, Adelaide
31 Aug 1918: Involvement Private, R271, 1st to 6th (SA) Reinforcements, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '20' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Barambah embarkation_ship_number: A37 public_note: ''
31 Aug 1918: Embarked Private, R271, 1st to 6th (SA) Reinforcements, HMAT Barambah, Melbourne

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Biography contributed by Saint Ignatius' College

Leslie Bryant Howie was a soldier who fought in World War One. He was born in Jamestown, South Australia in 1894. Before enlisting, Leslie Bryant Howie was a wheelwright and had previous military experience serving in the 79th Infantry Battalion. On the 24th of August 1914, Leslie Bryant Howie enlisted to join the 10th Battalion in Morphettville at the age of 20. He was one of six soldiers from Goolwa that enlisted to join the 10th Battalion in World War I. Soldiers in the 10th Battalion were recruited from South Australia, particularly around the time Howie enlisted due to the establishment of a military camp in Morphettville. For two months, he completed training alongside other soldiers in the 10th Battalion in preparation for the conditions of the Gallipoli battlefield. He embarked on the HMAT Ascanius to Gallipoli 

In Gallipoli, the 10th Battalion was heavily involved in establishing and defending the front line of the ANZAC position. From this information, it is inferred that Howie was fighting in the front line of defence during his time in Gallipoli. Throughout his war experience, Leslie Bryant Howie was admitted to many different hospitals and hospital ships as he contracted many different illnesses and suffered many injuries.

His first admission to hospital was On the 24th of January 1915, Leslie Bryant Howie was admitted to hospital with influenza, a common flu during the first world war due to the rough conditions of the trenches and improved transportation that allowed influenza to rapidly spread throughout the battlefield. He was not discharged until the 21st of February, one month after he was first admitted. After he was discharged, he re-joined the 10th Battalion and continued to fight for Australia. 

On the 12th of September 1915 he was readmitted to hospital with Dysentry and Bronchitis. He was taken to the hospital in Mudros by a field ambulance and then transferred to the hospital ship, ‘Nevasa’ on the 13th of September. He was also transferred to another hospital ship four days after he embarked on the ‘Nevasa’ on the 17th of September. One month later, on the 27th of October, Leslie Bryant Howie was admitted to a hospital known as Helouan because he had jaundice, which is a condition where the skin, whites of the eyes and mucous membranes turn yellow because of a high level of bilirubin, a yellow-orange bile pigment. A potential cause of this condition is due to a repeated exposure to TNT that would have been found on the battlefields in Gallipoli.

Leslie Bryant Howie was taken on strength and transferred to the 3rd Australian Divisional Signals Company which was a part of the Royal Australian Engineers. They were tasked with providing communications from Headquarters to those of subordinate formations. During Leslie Bryant Howie’s time in the 3rd Divisional Signals Company, communications were achieved by a combination of field telephone and towards the end of WW1, limited radio, with the most common means of electronic communication being field telephones connected by line. Line was buried where possible, but it would often be cut or broken by artillery fire or road traffic which meant the line would have to be laid on the surface to maintain communication. This task put soldiers like Leslie Bryant Howie in danger because they would have to leave the shelter of the trenches and go out onto the surface to lay wire which was a very vulnerable position to be in. Laying line was one of the most hazardous jobs on the front line because soldiers like Leslie Bryant Howie had to move above ground carrying a reel of wire. It required a lot of courage and bravery because soldiers were often the only ones moving on the battlefield. This meant that they attracted small arms and artillery fire, so the task was mainly completed at night.

Leslie Bryant Howie was sent to France from Gallipoli to fight on the Western Front on the 22nd of November 1916 via the Southampton Port which was one of the busiest ports in the UK throughout the war. Due to transferring units before being sent to the Western Front, Leslie Bryant Howie’s role on the battlefield changed when he reached the Western Front to become a Sapper. Instead of fighting on the front line, his tasks were to lay communication trenches between units which was one of the most dangerous jobs in the war.

In April 1918, Leslie Bryant Howie was sent from France to England and then left for Australia a week later. On the 2nd of December 1918, two months after leaving for Australia, Leslie Bryant Howie returned to England as a Private in the 1 to 6 (SA) Reinforcements. He then re-joined the 3rd Divisional Signals Company and continued to serve in this unit for the remainder of the war.

On the 11th of November 1918, the guns on the Western Front fell silent after more than four years of horrific fighting and the loss of millions of people’s lives. The entry from the 3rd Australian Divisional Signals Company’s unit diaries on the 11th of November provides a slight description from this unit’s perspective on the reactions after the ceasefire agreement was signed. It says, ‘the news of the signing of the armistice by Germany and the cessation of hostilities from 11 am today was received by all ranks with joy and satisfaction.’ Leslie Bryant Howie stayed in France until he was finally discharged from the war on the 5th of August 1919. On the 3rd of April 1964, Leslie Bryant Howie died at the age of 69.

 

Bibliography:

Information on the training at Morphettville:

Virtual War Memorial 2014, Vwma.org.au, viewed April 2022, <https://vwma.org.au/explore/campaigns/57>.

Pip, Squeak and Wilfred (WWI Campaign Medals) | Great War Stories 2020, Worldwar1luton.com, viewed April 2022, https://www.worldwar1luton.com/object/pip-squeak-and-wilfred-wwi-campaign-medals

Anzac spirit | Australian War Memorial 2020, Awm.gov.au, viewed April 2022, <https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/anzac/spirit#:~:text=Anzac%20came%20to%20stand%20for,%2C%20good%20humour%2C%20and%20mateship.>.

Australian War Memorial. “AWM4 Subclass 22/13 - 3rd Australian Divisional Signals Company.” www.awm.gov.au, www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1339294.

“The Australian War Memorial - 10th Battalion Unit Diaries.” Australian War Memorial, 2016, www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1339170.

National Archives of Australia. “HOWIE Leslie Bryant” National Archives of Australia, 1914, recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=7017217. Accessed 4 Apr. 2022.

 

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