PRICE, Richard James
| Service Number: | 6640 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Sapper |
| Last Unit: | Tunnelling Companies |
| Born: | Not yet discovered |
| Home Town: | Oxley, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 22 July 1917, age not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Hersin Communal Cemetery Extension Hersin Communal Cemetery Extension, Hersin-Coupigny, Lens, Nord Pas de Calais, France |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Corinda Sherwood Shire Roll of Honor, Graceville War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 17 Jan 1917: | Involvement Sapper, 6640, Tunnelling Companies, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '6' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Omrah embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Jan 1917: | Embarked Sapper, 6640, Tunnelling Companies, RMS Omrah, Melbourne | |
| 22 Jul 1917: | Involvement Sapper, 6640, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 6640 awm_unit: 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company awm_rank: Sapper awm_died_date: 1917-07-22 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Richard Price was the son of James and Adelaide Price who lived at Oxley. As a boy he attended Oxley State School. At the time of his enlistment, Richard gave his occupation as railway shunter. He was 22 years old.
Richard was originally drafted into the Engineers but was subsequently drafted into the 3rd Tunnelling Company as a sapper. Tunnelling companies were being formed from 1916 onwards in a response by the military to take the war underground. Tunnellers were engaged in offensive and defensive mining operations under the front lines. The effects of their work can still be seen today in the mine craters around Hill 60 and the Caterpillar, Ypres in Belgium and the Lochnager Crater near Albert on the Somme in France. Tunnelling was a highly skilled occupation and Richard, along with the reinforcements for 3rd Tunnelling Company spent some time at Seymour in Victoria during the second half of 1916 in training. He was granted home leave prior to embarkation and his file records that he was AWL during this time and fined 10 shillings.
Richard Price, along with a contingent of reinforcements for various engineer, tunnelling and pioneer units sailed from Melbourne in January 1917 and arrived in Plymouth in March of that year. By April, Richard and the other reinforcements were in the vast British Expeditionary Force camp at Etaples in France.
On 1st May, Richard joined the 3rd Australian Tunnelling Company which was stationed at the front near Loos. The tunnellers were engaged in mining operations under Hill 70 as well as constructing dugouts in the walls of the quarries around Noeux-le-Mines.
On 22nd of July, Richard Price was struck in the head by a shell fragment from a German 5.9 Howitzer. Red Cross reports of the incident state that he was waiting well behind the lines with his mate, Sid Turner, for transport back to their billet when a shell landed close by. He was buried at a nearby cemetery, Hersin Communal Cemetery, with a chaplain present. There are 55 Australians buried at Hersin, 54 of them from the 3rd Tunnelling Company. Several members of the unit wrote to Richard’s family in Oxley after his death. His best mate, Sid Turner was reported to be particularly overcome at his death.
Sapper Richard James Price is commemorated on the Oxley War Memorial, Brisbane; and rests with his mates at Hersin Communal Cemetery south of Lille, France. He is also commemorated in the name of Price Street, opposite the lower oval of Oxley State School on Oxley Road.
Courtesy of Ian Lang
Mango Hill