Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Maurice Reid was enlisted as a reinforcement for the 27th Battalion at Keswick Barracks Adelaide on the 4 August 1915.  After training at Mitcham Camp he embarked in January 1916 for service on the Western Front.  As he was departing Australia, the AIF was reforming and 'doubling' in Egypt prior to embarkation for Marseilles in France and then a long train journey north to the Armentieres sector near the Belgian border.  Fate dealt Maurice Reid a different hand to that which might otherwise had transpired when he was transferred on arrival in France to the 32nd Battalion in the 8th Brigade of the 5th Division.

The 5th Division’s baptism of fire on a large scale occurred at Fromelles on 19/20th July 1916.

795 or nearly 90% of the fighting strength of the 32nd Battalion became casualties during the ill-fated attack at Fromelles, the single worst day in the history of the Australian Army.

Previously listed as Missing in Action, Private Maurice  L. Reid was one of many soldiers killed at Fromelles whose fate was only revealed in 2008-10 when the Pheasant Wood mass grave was discovered and opened.  The remains of Australian and British soldiers, killed behind the German lines during the battle of Fromelles, were buried there by the Germans following the battle on 19/20th July  1916.  The discovery of the grave led to a forensic study and many of the soldiers have subsequently been identified by DNA analysis.

Pheasant Wood Cemetery is the newest CWGC site on the Western Front having been constructed to accommodate the remains of Australian and British soldiers recovered from a Mass Grave nearby.  The soldiers interred there were buried behind the German lines immediately following the battle of Fromelles. 

Inscription on headstone "Lost but now found. Loved son of John and Emily Loved by all his family Now resting peacefully"

Another image of Pte Maurice Reid is available on the State Library of SA Flikr site but is subject to copyright

Steve Larkins