| Regimental number | R6250 |
| Place of birth | Wentworth, New South Wales |
| School | Wentworth Public School, Wentworth, New South Wales |
| Religion | Church of England |
| Occupation | Draper |
| Address | Wentworth, River Darling, New South Wales |
| Marital status | Single |
| Age at embarkation | 22 |
| Next of kin | Sister, Mrs S C Wheelan, Willow Point Station, Wentworth, River Darling, New South Wales |
| Previous military service | Was a member of the Legion of Frontiers Men. |
| Enlistment date | |
| Rank on enlistment | Private |
| Unit name | 5th Battalion, 20th Reinforcement |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/22/3 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A14 Euripides on |
| Regimental number from Nominal Roll | 6250 |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 5th Battalion |
| Other details from Roll of Honour Circular | Enlisted September, 1914; was at the Gallipoli landing, Cape Helles. |
| Fate | Killed in Action |
| Place of death or wounding | Amiens, France |
| Age at death | 23 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 7), Belgium The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936. Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign. |
| Panel number, Roll of Honour, Australian War Memorial | 43 |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: John Oliver and Sarah Barker EDWARDS. Native of Wentworth, New South Wales |
| Other details |
War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front Admitted to No. 16 Stationary Hospital, Mudros, 25 June 1917 (influenza); transferred to hospital, Alexandria, 22 July 1915; discharged to duty at base, 28 July 1915. Admitted to Reception Hospital, Mustapha, 9 August 1915 (pyrexia); transferred to 17th Australian General Hospital, 9 August 1915 (enteric); commenced return to Australia on board HT 'Kanowna' from Suez, 16 October 1915; disembarked Melbourne, 22 November 1915. Returned to duty, 3rd Military District, 6 March 1916. Embarked from Melbourne, 11 September 1916; disembarked Plymouth, England, 26 October 1916. Found guilty, while at sea, of gambling, 14 September 1916: awarded 48 hours' detention. Proceeded overseas to France, 12 January 1917; taken on strength, 5th Bn, 16 January 1917. Admitted to 1st Australian Field Ambulance, 21 March 1917 (influenza); admitted to 2nd Divisional Rest Station, 5 April 1917; transferred to 3rd Canadian General Hospital, Boulogne, 23 April 1917 (trench fever); rejoined unit, 26 August 1917. Killed in action, Belgium, 20 September 1917. Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
