P03236.317 Accession Number: P03236.317

Description

Studio portrait of ex-Prisoner of War (POW) 6010 Private (Pte) John Norman Glyde, 4th Battalion, from Carrathool, NSW, seated, and two unidentified Australian soldiers from the same battalion. Pte Glyde enlisted on 14 March 1916 at the age of 18 and embarked for overseas on 22 August 1916 aboard HMAT Wiltshire. He was captured at Boursies, France, on 15 April 1917 and a witness to his capture reported "He was on an out-post on the night of the 14th April 1917 and was completely cut off by the enemy, impossible to escape. We attacked at day-break and went on to the ridge towards out-posts to meet the Germans and found it impossible to hold ground [and] we were ordered to retire to sunken road. Ground retaken afterwards. No sign of his body, believe he is a prisoner." Pte Glyde was held as a POW in Germany until he was repatriated to England on 14 January 1919 and then arrived back in Australia on 20 May 1919. The handwritten note on the back of the photograph reads "Dear Miss Chumley [sic] I am just writing you this card to ask you if you will kindly keep my mail until I come back as I am in Edinburgh now and I will be in London on the 12th and you will oblige yours sincerely Private J.N. Glyde, 4th Batt. I am sending you this photo of myself in the middle and I thought that you would like one as you have been so kind to [me] when I was in Germany. J.N. Glyde, Darlington Point, NSW." One of a series of over 400 photographs sent by Australian POWs in German camps to Miss M. E. Chomley, Secretary, Prisoners Department, Australian-British Red Cross Society, London. Original album housed in AWM Research Centre at RC00864, Album image number 377.