SERVICE PERSON RESEARCH

‘They Enlisted at My Age’

SERVICE PERSON DETAILS

Service Person’s Name Bert Wicks

Rank Gunner

Service Number 1627

Regiment/Unit orShip or Squadron 14th Australian Field Artillery Brigade

Date of Birth 1897

Place of Birth Oakey, Queensland

Family Details (married or single, name of wife, names of mother

and father)

G. H. Wicks – FatherEllen Isabella Wicks – WifeElizabeth Wicks - Mother

Age at Enlistment 18

Place of Enlistment Blackall, Queensland

Date of Death 04/09/1917

Place of Death Belgium

Cemetery orMemorial Name Birr Cross Roads Cemetery, Flanders, Belgium

Grave or MemorialNumber

PHOTO

Discovering Anzacs 2016, Gallery – 1627 Signaller Bert Wicks, http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/gallery/28216 (accessed 15/02/16)

SERVICE PERSON’S STORY/EULOGY

As we stand here today, 100 years from the Great War, it is important to remember that not every soldier, nurse, officer or chaplain was a hero and yet, nor were any of them insignificant. But perhaps some of the most extraordinary stories are those about someone who doesn’t at first glance seem extraordinary at all. Case in point, Bert Wicks, number 1627 of the 14th Australian Field Artillery Brigade. Son of George H. Wicks and Elizabeth Wicks, Bert’s family moved from town to town as his father was a school principal. When World War 1 broke out, Mr George Wicks was the principal at Blackall State School, a position he held from 1911 until 1917.

On the outbreak of the First World War his son, Bert Wicks was working as a banker and enlisted in Brisbane on 29 July 1915, aged 18 years and 2 months, with the 5th Light Horse. His parents gave their permission for Bert to enlist. Two weeks later on 12 August, he married Ellen Isabella Jenkinson. Bert embarked on 30 November that same year to take up duty in Egypt and then move to France on the Western Front and then Belgium.

He took part in some fierce battles, before being wounded in the Somme on 16 November 1916. The wound wasn’t serious, but it was here we learn about the very close relationship between Elizabeth and her only son, for a month later Elizabeth asked about the severity of the wound due to the transparency of the official report. She wrote:

“Your wire did not say it was serious, just wounded; it may be serious, or may not. It would relieve me very much to hear of him, or get to know where I could find out any information. I am very sorry to trouble you, knowing what a vast amount of work of this kind you are asked to do".

The army responded a day later saying he was fine. Not much is recorded on Bert’s time at the front, until…

On 4 September 1917, in ‘Hellfire Corner’ near Ypres and Menin Road in Belgium (considered one of the most dangerous parts of the front) Bert was killed in action - he was just 20 years of age. The official report on his death is quite graphic and must have made for confronting reading for the family as it is still difficult to hear today. The Major wrote into Bert Wicks record:

“Gunner Wicks was killed on the morning of 4 September 1917 at about 11 o'clock. He was in a "pill box" dug-out with other men near "Hell Fire Corner" in the Ypres area, when an enemy light explosive shell hit the dug-out, the roof collapsing with the force of the explosion, burying the occupants of the dug-out. Death in the case of Gunner Wicks must have been instantaneous, as there were severe wounds in chest, abdomen and head. He was buried close to the dug-out, the burial service being read by one of the Sergeants of the battery. A cross was erected over the grave by the men of the Battery." His body was buried just off the railway line 1 ¼ miles south of Ypres".

This is usually where Bert’s story would end, however what happened after is what truly makes Bert’s life story extraordinary. For you see, during the war, Bert had changed his next of kin from his father George, to his wife Ellen, a wife his parents never knew about. This information only came to light when Elizabeth attempted to collect a pocket wallet owned by Bert, whom had specified “If I don't make it, see mum gets this" only to discover it and various other belongings had been sent Ellen, this previously unknown wife. In Bert’s war record we read the letters that his mother wrote, pleading for something of her son’s that she could hold on to or even an official report from the army confirming her beliefs that Bert would have been brave.

For Ellen, his wife, and the baby son, Matthew that Bert never met, the items sent must have been a tragic reminder of the life that the young family never got to have.

Aspects of Bert’s story are all too familiar throughout the First World War. His life represents a familiar narrative from the First World War – that of a young man, cut down in his prime leaving behind only a mourning family and children they would never meet. We can see something of importance in Bert Wick’s story - he was one of the thousands of ordinary Australians who made an extraordinary sacrifice in the process of contributing to the immense war effort in an attempt to secure, what many believed at the time, would be a better tomorrow.

Like the over 60 000 Australians who died in the First World War, Bert Wicks was remembered. In 1917 his mother wrote of her son:

“he was my only son and little pal of mine… he begged us to let him go to war… for he was noble and brave … his death was a terrible blow to us and still is.”

Bert Wicks is remembered on the Blackall Cenotaph and after being re-buried, he now lies in the Birr Cross Roads Cemetery, Flanders, Belgium.

Rest in peace, Mr Bert Wicks, rest in peace.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Web citations:

Adopt A Digger Project 2015, WICKS Robert Charles Bury "Bert", http://www.adoptadigger.org/search-for-a-ww1-digger/search-for-a-ww1-digger/item/3-diggers-database/1810-wicks-bert (accessed 15/02/16)

Australian War Memorial 2016, Roll of Honour –Bert Wicks https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1666795/ (accessed 8 January 2015).

Australian War Memorial 2016, Collection - Red Cross Wounded and Missing: Bert Wicks, https://www.awm.gov.au/images/collection/pdf/RCDIG1059051--1-.pdf (accessed 15/02/16)

Blackall to Battle and Back: Memorial Park, https://www.historypin.org/en/first-world-war-centenary/memories-for-a-new-generation/blackall-to-battle-and-back-war-memorial-park/geo/-24.425727,145.468677,3/bounds/-52.092051,115.322193,10.770086,175.615161 (accessed 19/02/2016)

Discovering Anzacs 2016, Profiles – Bert Wicks, http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/person/359233 (accessed 12/02/16)

Discovering Anzacs 2016, Records – Bert Wicks, http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/418532 (accessed 15/02/16)

SOURCES

Other citations:CAMPBELL, Christine, (1977) 1877 – 1977 A History of Blackall State School, A commemorative booklet on the Centenary of Blackall State School (out of print)

Source 1: Bert Wicks War Record

Discovering Anzacs 2016, Records – Bert Wicks, http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/418532 (accessed 15/02/16)

Source 2: Red Cross Reports – Bert Wicks

Australian War Memorial 2016, Red Cross Wounded and Missing: Bert Wicks, https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1474511/ (Access 15/02/2016)

The Red Cross records contain statements from those who knew of the circumstances of Bert Wicks death.

Source 3: An extract from Bert Wicks’ War Record

Discovering Anzacs 2016, Records – Bert Wicks, http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/418532 (accessed 15/02/16)

This extract shows the very brief message sent to Bert’s parents at Blackall State School concerning Bert being wounded. His mother wrote to hear more of her son and was assured briefly that the injury was not serious. Bert’s family were in Blackall from 1911-1917 where Bert’s father was the Principal. They left the year of Bert’s death in the Great War.

Source 4: An extract from Bert Wicks War Record

Discovering Anzacs 2016, Records – Bert Wicks, http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/browse/records/418532 (accessed 15/02/16)

This extract details the very graphic nature of Bert Wicks’ death.

It reads as: “Gunner Wicks was killed on the morning of 4 September 1917 at about 11 o'clock. He was in a "pill box" dug-out with other men near "Hell Fire Corner" in the Ypres area, when an enemy light explosive shell hit the dug-out, the roof collapsing with the force of the explosion, burying the occupants of the dug-out. Death in the case of Gunner Wicks must have been instantaneous, as there were severe wounds in chest, abdomen and head. He was buried close to the dug-out, the burial service being read by one of the Sergeants of the battery. A cross was erected over the grave by the men of the Battery." His body was buried just off the railway line 1 ¼ miles south of Ypres".

Source 5: Roll of Honour Record from the Australian War Memorial

Australian War Memorial 2014, Roll of Honour –Bert Wicks https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1666795/ (accessed 8 January 2015).

Source 6: Image of Bert Wicks’ Headstone

Adopt A Digger Project 2015, WICKS Robert Charles Bury "Bert", http://www.adoptadigger.org/search-for-a-ww1-digger/search-for-a-ww1-digger/item/3-diggers-database/1810-wicks-bert (accessed 15/02/16)

Source 7: Image of Blackall Memorial Park where Bert Wicks is remembered

Blackall to Battle and Back: Memorial Park, https://www.historypin.org/en/first-world-war-centenary/memories-for-a-new-generation/blackall-to-battle-and-back-war-memorial-park/geo/-24.425727,145.468677,3/bounds/-52.092051,115.322193,10.770086,175.615161 (accessed 19/02/2016)

“In 1925 John Henry Hart, local grazier and businessman, donated the land for the Memorial Park to the people of Blackall. After years of public discussion and indecision, there was no progress on a permanent war memorial in Blackall to mark the Great War. Post war sentiment required each town to have its own memorial.

The citizens of Blackall had promoted at various times swimming baths, a hall and a memorial but no decision had been reached by 1924.

In June 1925 the public voted unanimously to reject the idea of swimming baths but instead to erect a memorial on the land donated by J H Hart.”

Source 8: Image plaque on the Blackall Cenotaph

Blackall to Battle and Back: Memorial Park, https://www.historypin.org/en/first-world-war-centenary/memories-for-a-new-generation/blackall-to-battle-and-back-war-memorial-park/geo/-24.425727,145.468677,3/bounds/-52.092051,115.322193,10.770086,175.615161 (accessed 19/02/2016)

Research by Blackall State School students in 2015, with assistance from Jill Douglas and Christine Campbell of the Blackall Historical Society, revealed the names, ages and places of death of all but two of the men on the town’s cenotaph.

During the research process, Bert Wicks was identified through multiple sources as being the “R.Wicks” on the plaque shown below. The cenotaph was erected in the late 1920s.