Archibald David Wilson

This search tested me a little bit as I quickly ran in to a brick wall when I found that 394 Dvr Archibald David Wilson, 12 Light Horse Regiment, died in 1940 having never married. I found a Public Trustee notice in the SMH archives about Archie, but that was about it. 

The next step was to look for any siblings. From the NSW BDM, I found that Archie was born in Forbes to a William and Florence Wilson. There was another child born to parents of the same name four years later in Forbes by the name of William Keith Wilson. There was no confirmation that it was the same family. William also served in WWI but the address for the NOK on the Attestation Papers were different from what is on Archie’s. I thought that it might not be the same family. However, in both service records there is a letter from the father to the Army concerning each son. By comparing the signature on the letters I could confirm they were from the same person and therefore establish that Archie and William were brothers. Page 23 for Archie and page 7 for William show the letters.

So then, the search started for William Keith Wilson’s family. I found that he married a Juliet Frances Stevens Montagu in 1926 and that Juliet died in 1989 in Bathurst. From there the trail to William and Juliet’s eldest daughter Peg was pretty simple.

When I spoke to Peg she pulled out all the medals that she had and was able to tell me that she had her father’s WWI pair and also the 1914/15 Star and British War Medal awarded to Archie. Therefore, with this return the full group is reunited.
This medal is from the Diane F collection. The returned medal tally is now 986.

Archie served with the 12th Light Horse Regiment which is most famous for participating in the Charge at Beersheba. The following is from the AWM web site:

The 12th Light Horse Regiment was raised, as part of the 4th Light Horse Brigade, at Liverpool, New South Wales, on 1 March 1915. It sailed from Australia in two contingents in June 1915. The first contingent put in at Aden on 12 July to reinforce the British garrison there against a predicted enemy attack; they only left their ship for a single route march, and sailed again on 18 July without having seen action.

The regiment was reunited in Egypt on 23 July 1915 and began training as infantry, having been ordered to leave its horses in Australia. A month later it deployed to Gallipoli. The regiment was again split up, to reinforce three light horse regiments already ashore - A Squadron went to the 1st Light Horse Regiment, B Squadron to the 7th, and C Squadron to the 6th. It was not reunited until 22 February 1916, by which time all of the AIF troops from Gallipoli had returned to Egypt.

Returning to its mounted role, the 12th Light Horse joined the forces defending the Suez Canal on 14 May 1916. In ensuing months it conducted patrols and participated in several forays out into the Sinai Desert. In April 1917 the regiment moved into Palestine to join the main British and dominion advance. It joined its first major battle on 19 April when it attacked, dismounted, as part of the ill-fated second battle of Gaza.

With two frontal attacks on Gaza having failed, the next attempt to capture the Turkish bastion was a wide outflanking move via the town of Beersheba, launched on 31 October 1917. A deteriorating tactical situation late on the first day of the operation caused the 12th and it’s sister regiment, the 4th, to be unleashed on Beersheba at the gallop - an action which has gone down in history as the charge of Beersheba.

After Gaza fell on 7 November 1917, Turkish resistance in southern Palestine collapsed. The 12th Light Horse participated in the pursuit that followed, and then spent the first months of 1918 resting and training. It moved into the Jordan Valley in time to participate in the Es Salt raid between 29 April and 4 May. The regiment subsequently manned defences on the west bank of the Jordan.

In August, the regiment was issued with swords and trained in traditional cavalry tactics in preparation for the next offensive against the Turks. This was launched along the Palestine coast on 19 September 1918 - it’s objective, Damascus. The mounted forces penetrated deep into the Turkish rear areas severing roads, railways and communications links. The 12th Light Horse was one of the first Australian units to enter Damascus on 2 October 1918. The regiment was soon involved in the next stage of the advance and was on its way to Homs when the Turks surrendered on 30 October. While awaiting to embark for home, the 12th Light Horse were called back to operational duty to quell the Egyptian revolt that erupted in March 1919; order was restored in little over a month. The regiment sailed for home on 20 July 1919.