Pyramul, Mudgee, NSW
4908
13th Battalion, 15th reinforcements
Gilgandra Coo-ee
Returned to Australia January 1918
Private Alfred Wardrop 4908
Alfred was a 28 year old labourer of Pyramul, Mudgee, NSW when he enlisted on 9 October 1915 in Gilgandra. The medical examination by Dr Peet described him as 5’9” tall, 11 stone (74kgs), with fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair with no scars or marks.
He marched with the Coo-ees to Sydney where he trained at Liverpool
A Farewell was held in Gilgandra for the Coo-ees before embarking in Sydney on the ‘Star of England’ on 8 March1916. Alfred was transferred to the 45th Battalion and arrived in France in June 1916 to face his first experience of battle at Pozieres. In August 1916 he suffered a gunshot wound to his right hand. He was sent to England for treatment and convalescence at 3rd General Hospital, Wandsworth in London. In early September 1916 he was discharged from hospital, granted leave and then reported to No 1 Command Depot at Perham Downs in England. Alfred rejoined his unit in December 1916 when it was resting at Dernancourt, France.
At Guedecourt in February 1917, Alfred suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and ankle while in action. The unit diary describes the action on that day. ‘Artillery was active on both sides. Our snipers were also very busy. NO MANS LAND actively patrolled. Still holding the line.’ There were 12 men killed and 16 men wounded that day.
Alfred’s left foot was amputated in March 1917 in Etaples France. He was then transferred to the 3rd General Hospital, Wandsworth in London.
Helen Thompson wrote “While he was recovering in this hospital, he wrote a letter home to his mother in Pyramul, which was published in the Mudgee Guardian and North-Western Representative, in which he wrote: “[Sending] a line to let you know that I am getting along well now. … I am in the same hospital now as I was when I was wounded before, but I cannot get [around] like I could before. I am wounded pretty badly this time, but am over the worst of it now … I have no pain at all. I [had] my left foot off above the [ankle], a wound in the thigh on the … leg, and one under the knee on the right leg … I … go back to Australia after a few months. You have no need to worry about me in any way, as I am getting along fine, and am as happy as I ever I was. I will be able to get up in a chair in a few weeks. The same shell got [five] others, killing three – and wounding three of us. I was one of the lucky ones again, as I was between two of my mates who were killed”
In January 1918 he returned to Australia on the HT Corinthic, arriving 8 March 1918. Alfred was discharged medically unfit on 6 September 1918.
Alfred received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal and is commemorated on the Coo-ee Gateway Memorial and the Virtual War Memorial. He died at Mudgee in 1935 aged 48 and is buried in the Pyramul cemetery. He never married.