2nd Field Ambulance

2nd Field Ambulance dugout on the Gallipoli Peninsula. AWM P10930.002

Shoulder patch

Brief History

The 2nd Field Ambulance was the one of three Field Ambulance Companies nominally assigned to each of the three Brigades; the 1st 2nd and 3rd. The 2nd Brigade to which the 2nd Field Ambulance was assigned, comprised of the 5th 6th 7th and 8th Battalions. The 2nd Field Ambulance was raised in Puckapunyal; Victoria in 1914.

The 2nd Brigade landed at Gallipoli on the 25th April and the 2nd Field Ambulance served throughout the campaign and followed its parent Brigade to France and Belgium from 1916. Field Ambulances were established close to the beach at Gallipoli and were under constant threat of shell fire and even rifle and machine gun fire on occasion. The 2nd Field Ambulance landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, the Unit also served with distinction on the western Front at the Somme, Hindenburg, Ypres, Pozieres and Hazebrouck.

Forty seven men died while posted to this unit.

Patients

Gallipoli 1915

• John Donald Stalker 8 Aug 1915
• † Stanley Joseph Callow Champion 9 Aug 1915
• John Grant Watt MM & Bar 17 Aug 1915
• John Charles Hutchinson 19 Aug 1915
• John Alexander Adamson 20 - 29 Aug 1915
• Arthur Thomas Orton MM 20 Aug 1915
• Ernest Ball DCM 23 Aug 1915
• John Harold Coffen 13 Sep 1915

Egypt 1916

• John Alexander Spilsbury 25 Jan 1916
• James Thomson MM February 1916

France 1916

• Hector Lionel Saw 13 - 14 May 1916
• Donald Victor Chisholm 2 Jul 1916
• William Joseph Hayden 22 Jul 1916
• James Barber 23 Jul 1916
• Alfred Warburton Chapman (Jnr) 23 July 1916
• † Herbert Frank O'Neill 24 Jul 1916
• Walter Hayward 5 Aug 1916
• Charles Rudolff Dumps 1 Nov 1916
• Ernest Ball DCM 4 - 6 Nov 1916
• Robert Sang Herd 10 Nov 1916
• † Frederick William Vernon King 10 Nov 1916
• Frank Moore 10 - 11 Nov 1916
• John Donaldson Patterson 10 Nov 1916
• † Herbert Frank O'Neill 27 Nov 1916

1917

• James Thomson MM 23 Jul 1917
• † Elmer Winfred Drake Laing MC 17 Sep - 4 Nov 1917

1918

• Lancel Butcher 12 Jan 1918
• George Joseph Harris 12 Jan 1918
• Percival (Peter) Clement Bassett 23 - 30 Jan 1918
• George Joseph Harris 13 - 28 Mar 1918
• Alfred Ernest Andrews 19 Mar - 11 Apr 1918
• Edward Dudley Mann 13 Apr 1918
• Ernest Ball DCM 24 Aug 1918
• Henry (Harry) Butcher 17 - 19 Nov 1918

1919

• Ernest James Brandon Bettenay 11 - 17 Feb 1919 & 18 Apr - 21 Apr 1919

Individual Honours

• 1 x Distinguished Service Order
• 2 x Military Cross
• 3 x Distinguished Conduct Medal
• 42 x Military Medal
• 1 x Bar to Military Medal
• 3 x Meritorious Service Medal
• 8 x Mentioned in Despatches
• 1 x French Croix de Guerre

Notes

For further detail on this unit see:

• Wounds and Scars - From Gallipoli to France - The History of the 2nd Field Ambulance History 1914 - 1919 by Ron Austin