CARDWELL, Percy Eric
| Service Number: | 2792 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 1 July 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Lance Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 6th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Carlton, Victoria, Australia, 30 March 1895 |
| Home Town: | North Fitzroy, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Farm labourer |
| Died: | Killed in action, Belgium, 4 October 1917, aged 22 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Flanders, Belgium |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 1 Jul 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2792, 6th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Sep 1915: | Involvement Private, 2792, 6th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '8' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Star of Victoria embarkation_ship_number: A16 public_note: '' | |
| 10 Sep 1915: | Embarked Private, 2792, 6th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Star of Victoria, Melbourne | |
| 4 Oct 1917: | Involvement Lance Corporal, 2792, 6th Infantry Battalion, Third Ypres, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 2792 awm_unit: 6th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Lance Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-10-04 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Percy Eric Cardwell was the son of Thomas Andrew (died 1906) and Elizabeth Cargill Cardwell of North Fitzroy, Victoria. Percy and three brothers enlisted in the AIF and served overseas.
Percy’s younger brother, 206 Pte. Rupert Edgar Cardwell, an original member of the 5th Battalion AIF, had died of wounds on Gallipoli 8 August 1915.
The Cardwell brothers’ father, Mr. Thomas Andrew Cardwell, who had passed away in Fitzroy during 1906, was a native of Truro, England, and belonged to the 17th Lancers. He had arrived in Sydney during 1887.
From family records, when Percy’s father died, he was about 15 years of age, and Percy left home and went “bush” in country Victoria working as a farm hand, to help support his mother and younger siblings.
Percy arrived in Egypt in early 1916 and soon after was sent to France. He spent some time in and out of the field and hospital suffering from trench foot and returned to his Battalion who in August 1917 had moved on to Belgium. On 16th September 1917 he was promoted to Lance Corporal. Percy was a Lewis gunner; on the morning of 4 October 1917 “the Battle of Broodseinde” Passchendaele, he was in a trench that was being used as a listening post, and he was killed in action by a sniper. Percy was buried behind a ridge in open ground, with his rifle and a note inside his steel hat to identify him. After the war his remains could not be found.
His older brother, 985 Pte. Alaric Arthur Cardwell was also an original member of the 5th Battalion, also enlisting in August 1914. He eventually returned to Australia in 1918.
The youngest brother, Quenton Charles Cardwell, enlisted two days before his 18th birthday in July 1915. He was wounded in the arm at Fromelles with the 60th Battalion, and lucky to have survived the battle. He was evacuated to England to recover. Although Quenton did return to duty in France during late 1916, he was sent home to Australia on the order of the Department of Defence, in April 1918, as at that stage he had lost two brothers in the war. He was discharged for ‘family reasons’.
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