The AIF Project

Ralph Harley ADAMS

Regimental number2207
Date of birth1892
Place of birthGladstone, Queensland
SchoolNudgee College, Brisbane, Queensland
ReligionPresbyterian
OccupationMachine fitter
AddressNorthcote, Victoria
Marital statusSingle
Age at embarkation22
Height5' 7.75"
Weight143 lbs
Next of kinFather, R A Adams, Miles, Western Line, Queensland
Previous military serviceNil; Previously rejected as unfit for service (bad teeth)
Enlistment date22 April 1915
Date of enlistment from Nominal Roll22 April 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentPrivate
Unit name8th Battalion, 6th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/25/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A62 Wandilla on 17 June 1915
Rank from Nominal RollSergeant
Unit from Nominal Roll8th 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: 3 October 1916

FateKilled in Action 4 October 1917
Place of death or woundingZonnebeke, Belgium
Date of death4 October 1917
Age at death25
Age at death from cemetery records25
Place of burialNo known grave
Commemoration detailsThe 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: 7 March 1918

Family/military connectionsThree 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
SourcesNAA: B2455, ADAMS Ralph Harley

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