Cigarette tin saves the life of Allen Peterie Fricker, shot in the chest in France in World War I

A CIGARETTE tin Allen Peterie Fricker’s sister gave him when he left Adelaide for the battlefields of World War I is credited with saving his life in Belgium.

28/1/2015 Pic today at Burnside Is Mr Loudes Fricker, 92 and Ms Caitlan Prentice,15 for the Messenger 100 Anzacs in 100 days feature: Allen Peterie Fricker of Alberton fought at Gallipoli, in France and in WWII in Darwin and survived. Photo is of his daughter-in-law Lourdes Fricker, of Burnside, and her neighbour Caitlin Prentice who did a school project on him with some photos and medals.....PHOTO DAVE CRONIN

A CIGARETTE tin Allen Peterie Fricker’s sister gave him when he left Adelaide for the battlefields of World War I is credited with saving his life in Belgium.

Fricker, who rose to the rank of sergeant in Australian Division Signals Company by war’s end, first survived a fractured skull in Gallipoli a month after the he was one of the first Anzacs to land on the shore.

Fragments from an exploded shell reportedly hit the Alberton carpenter in the forehead before.

In his diary, Fricker, recalled the incident: “I was running along the beach at Anzac Cove and woke up a few days later in a hospital tent on Lemnos (a Greek island).”

After recovering the then 22 year-old was sent to France and took part in the Battle of Pozieres and the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917.

Allen Peterie Fricker, of Alberton, survived Gallipoli, despite a fractured skull.

According to his family, he was shot in the chest at Ypres, Belgium but survived because he had a cigarette tin given to him by his sister, May, in his breast pocket.

According to official citations, Fricker was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal for being “conscientious and obliging in the performance of his duties and setting a splendid example to others.

After the war, he took up a soldier’s settlement block in Waikerie but during the Great

Depression returned to Adelaide to find work as a builder.

He died in 1956 and is buried next to the artist Albert Namatjira in Alice Springs.

His son, Lyall Fricker, was a pilot in World War II before settling in Burnside with his wife Lourdes, now 92.

Mrs Fricker said her father-in-law never talked about his time in the war and he would not give permission for his son to join in World War II – he got permission from his mother instead.

“He wouldn’t send his son to war,” Mrs Fricker said.

“He went through hell – what they went through – they sent them to be killed.”

Mrs Fricker’s neighbour Caitlin Prentice, 15, recently did a school project on Allen Fricker.

“He was quite brave and so young too,” Caitlin said.

THIS story is part of Messenger’s 100 Years, 100 Days, 100 Stories project, which will profile 100 South Australian World War I heroes as the nation builds up to the centenary of the Allied landing on Gallipoli on April 25, 1915. If you have the details and war record of a family member who served during World War I, let us know. Please go to your local Messenger’s Facebook page and send us the details.

Originally published as Cigarette tin saves the life of Allen Peterie Fricker, shot in the chest in France in World War I