Regimental number | 2207 |
Date of birth | |
Place of birth | Gladstone, Queensland |
School | Nudgee College, Brisbane, Queensland |
Religion | Presbyterian |
Occupation | Machine fitter |
Address | Northcote, Victoria |
Marital status | Single |
Age at embarkation | 22 |
Height | 5' 7.75" |
Weight | 143 lbs |
Next of kin | Father, R A Adams, Miles, Western Line, Queensland |
Previous military service | Nil; Previously rejected as unfit for service (bad teeth) |
Enlistment date | |
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll | |
Place of enlistment | Melbourne, Victoria |
Rank on enlistment | Private |
Unit name | 8th Battalion, 6th Reinforcement |
AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/25/2 |
Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A62 Wandilla on |
Rank from Nominal Roll | Sergeant |
Unit from Nominal Roll | 8th Battalion |
Recommendations (Medals and Awards) |
Mention in Despatches Mentioned in despatches for participation in a very successful raid on the enemy trenches on 30 September 1916. Routine Orders by Major General H. B. Walker, 1st Australian Division, dated 3 October 1916. Recommendation date: |
Fate | Killed in Action |
Place of death or wounding | Zonnebeke, Belgium |
Date of death | |
Age at death | 25 |
Age at death from cemetery records | 25 |
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 | 52 |
Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: Ralph Alexander and Janet ADAMS, 'The Retreat', Miles, Queensland |
Medals |
Military Medal 'During the attack on POLYGON WOOD east of YPRES on September 20th 1917, this N.C.O.'s work was exceptionally fine. As Battalion Signalling Sergeant, when the lines were borken, he went out under heavy fire and repaired them thus keeping Battalion Headquarters in touch with Brigade almost continuously.'
Source: 'Commonwealth Gazette' No. 31 Date: |
Family/military connections | Three cousins, two died and one received Military Medal and Bar. |
Other details |
War service: Egypt, Gallipoli, Western Front Taken on strength, 8th Bn, Gallipoli, 6 August 1915. Admitted to Hospital Ship 'Caledonia' (jaundice), Anzac, 15 December 1915; transferred to Convalescent Camp, Mudros, 21 December 1915; discharged as fit, 26 December 1915. Disembarked at Alexandria, 3 January 1916; rejoined 8th Bn, Tel-el-Kebir, 7 January 1916. Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, France, 26 March 1916; disembarked, Marseilles, 31 March 1916. Appointed lance corporal, 30 July 1916. Mentioned in despactches for participation in a successful raid, 30 September 1916. Appointed corporal (temporary), 18 November 1916. Confirmed rank of corporal, 18 February 1917; appointed sergeant, 18 February 1917. Killed in action, Belgium, 4 October 1917. Medals: Military Medal, 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal |
Sources | NAA: B2455, ADAMS Ralph Harley |