Military History

Embarked Fremantle per HMAT ‘Persic’ A34 for UK 29.12.1916.
Roll Rank Private.
Roll Unit 39th Infantry Battalion, 6th Reinf, AIF.
Richards disembarked at Devonport with the 39th Bn. He marched in to the No.10 Training Bn. at Larkhill then Sutton Mandeville. After a period of intensive training Richards embarked for France 16.7.1917. He marched in to Rouelles 17.7.1917. Richards was taken on strength with the 3rd Australian Divisional Base Details (ADBD) 14.8.1917. Richards was KIA in Belgium/France at Passchendaele as part of the Third Battle of Ypres 12.10.1917. Richards was buried in the field at Passchendaele, his body was exhumed and reinterred to Tyne Cot British Cemetery XXII.E.21, Passchendaele (5 ¼ miles E.N.E. of Ypres)
He is commemorated at Tyne Cot Cemetery, Passchendaele, West Vlaanderen, Flanders, Belgium.
Final Rank Private, 39th Infantry Bn. AIF.
Medical Condition Deceased, KIA.
Awards and Medals British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Photo Ernest William Richards. Photographer unknown, photograph courtesy WW1 Cemeteries- Tyne Cot.
            WM 09020.001.
            SS 'Persic' A37. Photograph donor Estate of Miss Phyllis Litherland,  photograph source AWM P00575.001
            Australian soldiers training in fitness at Larkhill. Photographer unknown, photograph source AWM H00450
            Passchendaele 1917. Photographer unknown, photograph source AWM E01200
            Tyne Cot Cemetery with 11898 service graves. Photographer unknown, photograph AWM A0360
           

Information Source
AWM . P00575.001. SS 'Persic' A37. Photograph donor -Estate of Miss Phyllis Litherland,  photograph sourced from the Pictorial Collection of the Australian War Memorial
AWM H00450. Australian soldiers training in fitness at Larkhill. Photographer unknown, photograph sourced from the Pictirl Collection of the Austrain War m\Memorial
AWM E01200. Passchendaele 1917. Photographer unknown, photograph sourced from the Pictorial Collection of the Australian War Memorial
AWM A0360. Tyne Cot Cemetery with 11898 service graves. Photographer unknown, photograph  sourced from the Pictorial Collection of the Asutralian War Memorial
Guildford War Memorial
St Matthew’s Honour Roll
St Matthew’s Fallen
NAA: B2455, Richards Ernest William
AWM Embarkation Roll- Ernest William Richards
AWM Roll of Honour –Ernest William Richards
WW1 Cemeteries. Ernest William Richards. Photographer unknown, photograph courtesy WW1 Cemeteries- Tyne Cot.

Maylands, WA.

Associated Images