3rd Field Ambulance

3rd Field Ambulance located under the cliff to the right on Anzac Beach AWM photo G00932

Advanced Dressing Station of the 3rd Australian Field Ambulance, near the Menin Road at Ypres. AWM E00714

Brief History

The 3rd Australian Field Ambulance was attached to the 3rd Brigade, comprised of 9th 10th 11th and 12th Battalions. The 3rd Field Ambulance was deployed to Gallipoli, Turkey, on 25 April 1915 and became known as the unit of John Simpson Kirkpatrick who became famous for his innovative idea of using a donkey to assist in carrying wounded soldiers from the high ground of the front line, back to the dressing stations located at Anzac Cove. Subsequent evacuation was by ship to Lemnos Island, then to Malta and ultimately to the United Kingdom where soldiers might be hospitalised for many months. Then they would undergo rehabilitation, either in the UK or in serious cases they might be repatriated back to Australia. Many of the wounded succumbed to their wounds in transit. They would be buried at sea in the traditional naval fashion.

This unit later served in France and Belgium participating at Pozieres, Fromelles, Flers, Bullecourt, Lagnicourt, German 1918 advance an the Australian counter-attack.

Forty four men lost their life while posted to this unit.

Patients

Gallipoli / Mudros

• † Fritz Robert Jaentsch 26 Jul - 29 Jul 1915
• Arthur Charles Cam 8-9 Aug 1915
• Hugh Henry Smith 13 Sep 1915
• † Frederick William Wallace Moore 20 Dec 1915

France
1916

• William Carroll 31 May 1916
• John Alexander Spilsbury 31 May 1916
• Matthew Harwood 12 Aug 1916
• Charles Richard Irvine MM & Bar 4 Nov 1916

1917

• Thomas Kinsman Bickell 20 - 23 Jan 1917
• John Alexander Spilsbury 26 & 27 Jan 1917
• Leonard Henry (Lennie) Buckingham MM 6-7 Apr 1917
• Claude Francis Cooper 23 - 28 Apr 1917
• John Harold Coffen 30 Apr 1917
• John Alexander Spilsbury 7 Jul 1917
• Lancel Butcher 29 Jul 1917
• † Elmer Winfred Drake Laing MC 2 Sep 1917
• Frank Grundy 30 Sep 1917
• Robert George Orrock 1 Oct 1917
• Frederick Robert Weedon 2 Oct 1917
• Thomas Percival (Percy) Hanretty 4 Oct 1917
• Ernest Ball DCM 10 Oct 1917
• † Charles Leonard Lockhart 11 Oct 1917
• William Francis Combs 12 - 13 Oct 1917
• Edward Joseph King 12 Oct 1917
• † George Andrew King 12 Oct 1917
• Hubert Maitland Armstrong MM 13 Oct 1917
• William Dobson Stevens 13 Oct 1917
• Daniel Adkins Lewis 14 Oct 1917
• Norman Sedrick Tonkin 16 Oct 1917
• Frederick Sidney Gladstone 19 Oct 1917
• Sydney Chadwick McDonald 26 Oct 1917
• † Reuben Arnold MM 29 Oct 1917
• Arthur Percy Thomas Boyle 31 Oct 1917
• Thomas Hale Kensit 1 Nov 1917
• Henry Albert Thorp 1 Nov 1917
• Ernest Ball DCM 13 Nov 1917
• † Roland Parker Shelley Nov - Dec 1917

1918

• Albert George Bullock 1 Jan 1918
• Arthur Charles Grafham 29 Apr 1918
• † David Alexander Sayer 3 - 5 May 1918
• Herbert Lewis Battams 13 May 1918
• William Isaac Little 3 Jun 1918
• Alfred Tennyson Needham 3 Jun 1918
• John Donaldson Patterson 3 Jun 1918
• Herbert Lewis Battams 11 Jun 1918
• † Daniel Malcolm Wann 20 Jun 1918
• Peter Grant Watt 30 Jul 1918
• John Grant Watt MM & Bar 23 Aug 1918
• Thomas Hetherington 31 Aug 1918
• Patrick Kiely 2 Oct 1918
• Frederick George Gibbs 7 Nov 1918
• Lancel Butcher 16 Dec 1918

1919

• Ernest James Brandon Bettenay 7 Feb 1919

Individual Honours

• 3 x Distinguished Service Order
• 2 x Military Cross
• 5 x Distinguished Conduct Medal
• 45 x Military Medal
• 2 x Bar to Military Medal
• 6 x Meritorious Service Medal
• 12 x Mentioned in Despatches
• 1 x French Medaille Militaire

Notes

For more detail on this unit's involvement during ww1 see:

• The Body Snatchers - The History of the 3rd Field Ambulance 1914 - 1918 by Sue & Ron Austin