The AIF Project

Percy FORD

Regimental number198
Place of birthLower Freestone Creek, Warwick, Queensland
SchoolFreestone Creek State School
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationFarmer
AddressGoomburra, via Allora, Queensland
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation24
Height5' 8.5"
Weight156 lbs
Next of kinFather, Richard Ford, Goomburra, via Allora, Queensland
Previous military serviceNil
Enlistment date13 July 1915
Place of enlistmentBrisbane, Queensland
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name31st Battalion, A Company
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/48/1
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A62 Wandilla on 9 November 1915
Two ships sailed from Melbourne carrying men from the 31st Battalion Headquarters and Companies A, B, C, and D: HMAT A62,'Wandilla', on 9 November 1915, and HMAT A41, 'Bakara', on 5 November 1915.
Rank from Nominal RollPrivate
Unit from Nominal Roll31st Battalion
Other details from Roll of Honour CircularPrevious to enlisting, deceased was an all round sportsman and also a musician. (details from mother)
FateKilled in Action 20 July 1916
Place of death or woundingPozieres, Somme Sector, France
Age at death26
Age at death from cemetery records26
Place of burialNew Irish Farm Cemetery (Plot XXXI, Row F, Grave No. 18), St. Jean-Les-Ypres, Belgium
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
118
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Parents: Richard and Annie Elizabeth FORD, Gwen Terrace, Paddington, Queensland. Native of Freestone Creek, Warwick, Queensland
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Disembarked Suez, ex-HMT 'Wandilla', 7 December 1915.

Appointed Lance Corporal, Serapeum, 10 December 1915.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 16 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 23 June 1916.

Reported missing, 20 July 1916.

Court of Enquiry, held in the field, 1 August 1917, pronounced fate as 'Killed in Action, 20 July 1916'.

Statement, Red Cross File No 1081109, 1687 Sergeant G.W. CUMMINGS, A Company, 31st Bn (patient, No 2 General Hospital (Casino), Havre), 24 November 1916: 'I saw his dead body in the German trenches at Fleu[r[baix on the 20th July 1916 - Apparently he had been hit in the head. We were retiring and left our dead there.'

Additional statement by CUMMINGS (patient, 51st General Hspital, Etaples), 4 April 1917: 'Just as we got to the German wire on July 19th. I saw a German throw a bomb at him and wound him in the arm. One of the 3/Bc. [?] (name Wilson) bandaged his arm. He was lying on the barbed wire, tangled up in it when I saw him. That was the last I know of him.'

Note on file: 'No trace Germany[.] Cert. by Capt. Mills 10-10-19.'MSBV
Miscellaneous detailsFather's address subsequently Gwen Terrace, Paddington, Brisbane, Queensland; then Gasworks, Cairns, Queensland
SourcesNAA: B2455, FORD Percy
Red Cross file 1081109

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