LEST WE FORGET
Air Mechanic First Class Edward Bertram DEWHIRST
Service No: 723
Born: Port Augusta SA, August 1889
Enlisted in the Army: 27 June 1916
Unit: No. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps
Died: Ground Operations, France, 23 March 1918, Aged 28 Years
Buried: Outtersteene Communal Cemetery Extension, Bailleul, Nord Pas de Calais, France
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Edward Nicolle Dewhirst and Annie Rosina Dewhirst, of 54 Hardy Street, Goodwood, South Australia. Native of Port Augusta, South Australia
Place of Association: Port Adelaide SA
Remembered: Panel 188, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Brother of Private Geoffrey Bury Dewhirst 5020, Died of Wounds in France on 24 June 1918
On 23rd March the enemy continued his shelling, and at 9.50 a.m. secured a direct hit with a 14-inch shell on the old officers’ quarters, killing 1st Class Air Mechanic E. B. Dewhirst and; wounding Lieutenant John Patrick Jeffers (1) and Corporal William. James Sinclair, who were members of a rear party left behind to clear up the aerodrome. Shells continued to fall on the Bailleul aerodrome throughout the day, but without causing any further casualties.
Extract from Wrigley, H.N. (Henry Neilsen) (6) The Battle Below: Being the history of No. 3 Squadron AFC, Errol G. Knox Sydney NSW, 1935 – Page 59
(1) Killed on Air Operations: 19 September 1918
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record B2455, DEWHIRST E B
Bibliography:
Muller, P. (Peter) and Hutchinson, J. (John) Secrets Revealed: a brief history of No. 3 Squadron RAAF, Lutheran Publishing House Adelaide SA 5000, 1991
Wrigley, H.N. (Henry Neilsen) (6) The Battle Below: Being the history of No. 3 Squadron AFC, Errol G. Knox Sydney NSW, 1935