Victory Medal 1914-1918 : Private S Harris, 2 Battalion, AIF Accession Number: REL33427.003

Description

Victory Medal. Impressed around edge with recipient's details.

Contextual Description

Associated with the service of 408B Gunner Sidney Harris, who was born in May 1892 in London. Harris had served in the Territorial Army from July to December 1911 in London, before he and his elder brother Henry emigrated to Australia and settled in Paddington, NSW. Enlisting at Randwick on 23 August 1914, aged 22 years, Private Harris, a motor mechanic, was attached to 2 Battalion on 5 April 1915 and served on Gallipoli until contracting dysentery on 29 July 1915. He spent many months in hospital at 1 Australian General Hospital at Lemnos and was finally released for ‘Class B’ duties with his battalion on 29 December 1915. It appears that by at this point Harris had tired of the infantry and applied for a transfer to the Field Artillery, which was approved and on 29 March 1916 he was assigned to 10 Field Artillery Brigade at Tel el Kabir, Egypt, as that unit was preparing for its move to France. Harris embarked at Alexandria for Marseilles aboard the ‘Ionian’, landing in France on 15 June 1916 but within a week was admitted to 26 General Hospital at Etaples on with ‘bronchitis’; by the next day (24 June) he was diagnosed with ‘pneumonia seriously ill’ – a telegram was sent to his brother. Harris’s health continued to decline and by 28 June he was described as being ‘dangerously ill’. He finally succumbed to pneumonia at 1.45 pm on 9 July 1916. Gunner Sidney Harris was buried at Camiers Road Cemetery, at Etaples, Pas-de-Calais. Among the effects sent to brother Henry included his identity disc, a Turkish watch, a dress ring and a wooden crucifix. Some confusion exists regarding the spelling of his first name, but his brother confirms in a letter on his service file that the spelling is ‘Sidney’, not ‘Sydney’.