Fighting to the very end was Roy's brave way

Noosa Diggers remembered in lead up to Anzac Day

Thelast resting place of Private Roy Barr (inset) of Tewantin special World War I graves the Querrieu British Cemetery. Picture: Contributed

IN the second of our tributes to Noosa's fallen Diggers in the run up to Anzac Day on April 25, local Brian Roper looks at what befell the young locals whose names are etched into the Tewantin cenotaph but have largely been forgotten:

Private Roy Barr Sern 3961 25th Battalion, 7th Brigade, 2nd Division AIF.

Roy enlisted on November 15, 1915, aged 26 years and seven months. He was a labourer born in Sydney who had moved to Queensland before the war.

Roy embarked on the HMAT Wandilla on January 31 in Brisbane and arrived in Egypt April 4. He then boarded the HS Gascow on May 5 for the United Kingdom where he spent time in hospital because of trouble with his eyes.

After training in Rollestone he boarded the Arundel for France on February 4. Roy was "Taken on Strength” (a British Commonwealth term referring to a person being added to a military organisation) on February 9.

The Somme campaign had come to a halt because of the onset of winter plus the severe causalities suffered from July to November 1916. In the early spring of 1917, the troops started to push east again towards Bapaume.

Roy suffered gunshot wounds to his arm and leg near La Barque on March 3. He was transported back to England on the MS Western Australia to have his wounds attended to and he was also suffering from scabies (skin disease).

Roy was fit enough to rejoin his unit on November 2. He was lucky he missed the Bullecourt Battles and most of the Passchendaele Battles.

The 2nd Division were hurried back to France to try to block the German spring offensive, Operation Michael.

In April and May, the 25th Division undertook defensive tasks protecting the vital railway to Amiens.

Although the 2nd Division were not the front-line troops at this time, Roy would have been involved in the Battles for Villers-Bretonneux, Morlancourt and the push towards Hamel where they undertook "peaceful penetration” in June.

It was during these operations that Roy suffered severe gunshot wounds to his chest and back on June 13. By the time the Diggers heard the bullets whizzing past their bodies the bullets were already about 1km past them.

He was transported to the 5th Australian Field Ambulance dressing station where he died from his wounds. Roy is buried at Querrieu British Cemetery with 84 Diggers, of whom all but 10 died of wounds. Casualties of 25th Battalion's involvement in the war included 1026 men killed and 2821 men wounded. Due to the tremendous losses, the 25th was disbanded and merged with the 26th Battalion.