ALLEN Edward Hugh

Edward Hugh Allen was born on 22 April, 1889 at Woodford, a small Queensland town 72 km north-west of Brisbane. The town today is known worldwide for its folk festival that takes place over the Christmas/New Year holidays but in the 1880s timber cutting was the town’s first primary industry followed by dairying.

Edward’s father had been married to Annie Sampson and they had three children, Emma Ann Judd, Edward George Samson Judd and Anna Maria Judd. In 1888 Alice Maud McManus married the widower Edward Job Allen and they had five children. Edward Hugh was the eldest, Henry Job Allen (1891-1976), Alice Maud Allen (1895-1975), Charles William Allen (1898-1987). When war broke out the Allen family had moved to Mount Ubi Ubi, Eumundi.

Edward and his younger brother, Henry, travelled to Brisbane and enlisted in the 22nd reinforcements of the 9th battalion on 1 June, 1916. Before Edward and Henry went to war they climbed up two tall trees and cut the tops off them making their own memorial. The two dead trees stood side by side for many years and a son of their sister remembers seeing them in the 1930s. The 9th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War. It was the first battalion recruited in Queensland and was part of the 3rd Brigade. In 1916 initial training took place in Australia and the 9th battalion was stationed at Enoggera, Brisbane. Edward was 27 years of age at enlistment and was 5’7¾” (170 centimeters) tall, weighed 140 lbs (63.5 kgs), had a ruddy complexion, blue eyes and auburn hair. On 27 October, 1916 he embarked in Brisbane on the A74 “Marathon” for the war in Europe.

The men of 22nd Reinforcements arrived in Plymouth, England on 9 January, 1917. In February Edward suffered two bouts of illness and was admitted to hospital. Firstly he had scabies a contagious skin infection caused by a parasitic mite. The parasite burrows under the skin and causes an intense itching sensation caused by an allergic response. The close confinement of men on troop ships and barracks contributed to infection and the medical profession had become unfamiliar with its early signs and many soldiers would only report sick after a condition was too painful to endure. Next he was diagnosed with mumps on 17 February. Today mumps is considered mainly a childhood disease but it used to be known as a disease afflicting armies and mumps was one of the leading causes of hospitalization during World War 1.

On 8 March Edward continued his training in trench warfare leaving for Etaples, France on 15 May before joining his battalion in the field on 28 May, 1917. The battalion was billeted at Ribemont, part of the district of Saint Quentin. Training continued including training for brigade competitions and also practice attacks. The men were rested between training exercises and moved billets three times during June. July passed much the same as the previous month. The monotony was relieved by a concert by the battalion band at the YMCA hut at Broapay Farm. Rain was so heavy in early August that training could not take place. After moving to Staple training continued, a 14 mile route march took place with only one man falling out and the men’s fitness was maintained with recreational training such as boxing and rugby. Brigade sports were held on 22 August with the 9th battalion winning the Brigade Cup.

Australian troops were massing in the area and training continued through the early part of September. The battalion moved to Ouderdom by 16 September and final preparations for moving into the line were made on 19 September. The first major Australian attack of the Flanders Offensive was timed for 20 September, 1917 beyond Hooge, and was to build communications to allow artillery, ammunition and other supplies to be brought up to support any newly won positions and further planned assaults. Wet through by overnight rain the infantry were on their start positions by early morning of 20 September. At 5.40am 65,000 allied troops advanced on an eight mile front, screened by heavy mist and a stupefying bombardment. Keeping close to the barrage, the initial rush, across slippery ground, quickly overran enemy outpost; retaliatory fire strengthened and skillful fighting was needed to negotiate surviving strong points. By midday the four attacking division on the plateau were on their objectives.

Twenty minutes into the battle Edward Allen was wounded by a piece of shrapnel that hit him in the body and also in the lower part of the back. He was carried out but was unconscious for an hour and then died. Stretcher bearers took charge of the body but no details of his burial are known. In 1921 his brother, Hugh, stated that he had been told by Private Burke of C Company, 9th Battalion that his brother had been killed on Menin Road near the forward dressing station on 20 September, 1917. The Graves Registration Board advised his parents in 1921 that no trace could be found of Private Edward Allen’s final resting place. Almost a year after his death a package arrived for his mother consisting of a prayer book, a notebook and photos. His only possession, a banking account, was left in his will to his mother.

He is memorialized at the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres and also in the town of Eumundi, Queensland by a large tree.

The Menin Gate Memorial, so named because the road led to the town of Menin, was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front. The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tables of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July, 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted “The Menin Gate at Midnight”, which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936. In 2015 both the painting and lions were made available to the Canadian Government for temporary exhibition.

Back in Eumundi fig trees were planted in the main street in remembrance of the twenty fallen soldiers from the district who perished during the war. These glorious trees are considered a living war memorial and are heritage listed. Initially they were protected by a white picket fence around each tree but only one tree on the Corner of Gridley Street and Memorial Drive has a fence around it today. Many of the trees have long ago outgrown their picket fence. Today visitors to the Sunshine Coast's popular Eumundi markets often admire mature figs, camphor laurels, lillypillies, flame trees and a jacaranda along the town's main thoroughfare without knowing their significance. The Eumundi Women's Patriotic Committee raised £100 for the planting of 20 trees, representing local lives lost in WWI. Between 1914 and 1918, 87 men from Eumundi and the surrounding district enlisted.

Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium
Maroochy Shire War Dead, Quota Park, Matthew Street, Nambour
Eumundi & District Roll of Honour Board, Eumundi Memorial School of Arts Hall, Memorial Drive, Eumundi
Kenilworth and District Honour Board, Kenilworth Community Hall
Kenilworth District Anzac Honor Roll, Gheerulla Hall
Witta and District Roll of Honor, Maleny R.S.L. Memorial Hall, Bunya Street, Maleny
Soldiers' Memorial Hospital Maleny Roll of Honor, Soldiers' Memorial Hospital, Bean Street, Maleny
Shire of Landsborough Roll of Honour, Caloundra RSL, West Terrace, Caloundra
Nambour (Maroochy Shire) Roll of Honor Scroll, Private Collection, Nambour (this scroll was available for sale to the public after the war)

History of Woodford: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodford,_Queensland Service Records: http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3029429 www.aif.adfa.edu.au Family History: http://www.adoptadigger.org/search-for-a-ww1-digger/search-for-a-ww1-digger/item/3-diggers-database/1732-lcpl www.ancestry.com.au Scabies in WW1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scabies Mumps in WW1: http://history.amedd.army.mil/booksdocs/wwii/PM4/CH06.Mumps.htm War Diaries, June, 1917: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/AWM4/23/26/18/ War Diaries, July, 1917: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/AWM4/23/26/31/ War Diaries, August, 1917: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/AWM4/23/26/32/ War Diaries, September, 1917: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/AWM4/23/26/33/ Battle of Polygon Wood: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Polygon_Wood Battle of Menin Road Ridge: http://www.cwgc.org/ypres Australian Red Cross Society Enquiry Files: https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1504514/ Menin Gate Memorial: www.aif.adfa.edu.au

Images:

Portrait: http://slq.qld.gov.au Menin Gate at Midnight: http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Menin_Gate_at_midnight_(Will_Longstaff).jpg Menin Gate Lions at the Australian War Memorial: https://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/menin/lions/ Menin Gate just after the war: www.1battlefields.co.uk Name panel on Menin Gate: www.mybrightonandhove.e.gov.uk Menin Gate: www.cwgc.org Ypres sector on 20 September, 1917: https://www.awm.gov.au/search/all/?query=E02079