Service Details
- Branch of Service
- Army
- Conflict
- World War I (1914-1918)
- Date of Enlistment
- 04/04/1916
- Place of Enlistment
- Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT
Personal Details
- Gender
- Male
- Date of Birth
- 05/04/1897
- Place of Birth
- Goulburn NSW
- Address (at enlistment)
- Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT
- Occupation
- Soldier
- Next of Kin
- Frederick Wedd (father), Goulburn NSW
- Burial Place
Unmarked grave, Belgium
Unit and Rank Details
- Final Rank
- Lieutenant
- Final Unit
- 23 Machine Gun Company AIF
Fate
Died on 11 October 1917 near Zonnebeke, Belgium, aged 20 years
Commemoration
AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 179, Canberra ACT
Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium
Large stone tablet on outside of northern wall of St. John's Church, Reid ACT
Notes
Wedd grew up in Goulburn and entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 12 March 1914. His father, Frederick Wedd, was the recruiting officer for south eastern New South Wales and was responsible for organising the Men from Snowy River route march from Delegate to Goulburn in January 1916. Along with his classmates, Wedd graduated from RMC on 3 April 1916 and was posted to the 9th Machine Gun Company with the rank of Lieutenant. He embarked for England in May 1916 and landed in France in November 1916. The following February, Wedd returned to England to help form the 23rd Machine Gun Company (part of the 3rd Division) and became second-in-command. His unit was sent to Belgium in September 1917 to take part in the fighting near Ypres when Wedd was killed on the Ypres - Zonnebeke Road on the night of 11 October 1917.
According to his commanding officer, Wedd "was leading a convoy of wagons containing guns and ammunition up to the gun pontoons in preparation for the attack on 12 October (on Passchendaele) when a 5.9 shell burst on the road alongside his horse, killing Lt. Wedd, his horse and another man close by. The body was buried by the road. As far as is known no cross was erected on the grave. The approximate position of the grave is sheet 28 N.E.1 D 26 b 15.40 (on the right side of the road leading to Zonnebeke, 200 yards passed the dressing station) and approximately 1650 yards ENE of Zonnebeke." Note that the map position of the grave quoted is south west of Zonnebeke. An eyewitness described the road as being very congested and the Germans concentrated their shell fire there as dusk fell. "There was a lull in the shelling and then without warning several shells fell in quick succession." One of them landed underneath Wedd's horse and he was hit in the back of the neck by a piece of shell. Only wounded could be evacuated so Wedd was buried beside the road. As he has no known grave, Wedd is commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres.
Description - height 5 feet 9 inches, weight 161 pounds, thick-set build, medium complexion, brown eyes, chest 36-39 inches, Church of England.
Sources
Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
AWM Roll of Honour
AWM Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Files
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Men from Snowy River', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial