The Australian War Memorial Collection. Test site
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the name 'RONALD FREDERICK EEDY'. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A checker's mark, '13', is impressed in front of the lion's rear left paw. 'W' within a circle is stamped into the reverse.
Born in Newcastle, New South Wales, Ronald Frederick Eedy was employed as a chemist's assistant when he enlisted in the AIF on 5 April 1915, aged eighteen. After training he was posted a private, service number 1540, to the 1st Reinforcements for 17th Battalion. The unit embarked from Sydney aboard HMAT Themistocles on 12 May.
Eedy arrived in Egypt in August. He joined B Company of his battalion on Gallipoli at the end of September. A few days later, on 1 October, he was transferred to 7th Battery, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade at his request, so that he could serve in the same unit as his brother, Gunner Peter Farrier Eedy.
After the Gallipoli campaign Eedy undertook training in Egypt before his brigade moved to France in March 1916 for service on the Western Front. On 22 October 1917, at Zonnebeke, Eedy's gun received a direct hit by a shell. Five of the six-man crew, including Eedy, were killed outright. The men were buried in a single grave in Zonnebeke Wood. Their bodies were exhumed in 1920 and re-interred in the Perth (China Wall) Cemetery at Zillebeke.
This memorial plaque was sent to Eedy's mother, Eleanora 'Nellie' Mary Eedy, in December 1922. His brother Peter survived the war.
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge.
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge.
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge.
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge.
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge.
Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge.