Année de naissance: 1895

Lieu de naissance: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Profession: Jardinier

Pays: Australia

Force armée: Australian Imperial Force

Rang: Sergeant

Numéro de service: 1137

Incorporation date: 06/05/1915

Incorporation nom de lieu: Box Hill, Victoria, Australia

Unités:  —  Australian Infantry, 23rd Bn. (Victoria)  (Dernière unité connue)

Date de décès: 09/10/1917

Lieu de décès: Defy Crossing, Belgique

Cause du décès: Killed in action (K.I.A.)

Âge: 22

1914-15 Star Médaille

British War Medal Médaille

Victory Medal Médaille

Sergeant Edward Percy Dunn served in the Australian Infantry 23rd Battalion, “A” Company, part of the 6th Australian Brigade, of the 2nd Australian Division.
The 2nd Australian Division participated in the Battle of Poelcapelle, a stage in the Third Battle of Ypres. It's ’ask was to cover the right flank of the 66th Division and it attacked with the 5th Australian Brigade, on the left and the 6th Australian Brigade on the left of the divisional front. The attack of the 6th Australian Brigade was carried by the 22nd, 24th, 21st and 23rd Battalions.
Zero hour, was at 5.20 a.m. The supporting artillery barrage was very light and lacked precision, leaving most German positions unscathed. Nevertheless as the men of the 23rd Battalion advanced they encountered little frontal opposition. However there was heavy machine-gun and rifle fire coming from the right flank in the vicinity of Daisy and Busy Woods, causing approximately half of the casualties of the Battalion on that day. Dairy wood was cleared by the Battalion of all German resistance. When moving onwards the Battalion lost its direction and veered north, away from Dairy Wood, and came in behind the 17th Battalion, of the 5th Australian Brigade. As they advanced they established posts to guard the flank ending at their 2nd objective at Rhine, a fortified farm ruin on the 6th Brigade’s left, thereby guarding the flank of the 5th Brigade. The Battalion held their positions and was eventually relieved from the frontline during the night by the Australian Infantry 49th Battalion.
Sergeant Edward Percy Dunn was killed in action on the 9th of October. According to a witness testimony in his Red Cross Wounded and Missing File, he was in charge of the carrier Pigeons. Sergeant Edward Percy Dunn and a couple of other soldiers were killed outright by a German shell, while advancing. He was buried in the field just east of Defy Crossing along the Ypres-Roulers Railroad with four other Australian soldiers. His remains were exhumed after the war and he was interred in Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood.

23rd Australian Infantry Battalion, (Australian War Memorial, Campbell (AWM), AWM4 23/40/25). https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1338583 Sources utilisées

Austin R., Forward Undeterred, The History of the 23rd Battalion 1915-1918, (McCrae, Slouch Hat Publications, 1998), pg. 132-136. Sources utilisées

Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10328748 Sources utilisées

First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920, (National Archives of Australia, Canberra (NAA), B2455, DUNN E P). https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/NameSearch.aspx. Sources utilisées

McCarthy C., The Third Ypres Passchendaele. The Day-by-Day Account, (London, Arms & Armour Press, 1995), pg. 104-106. Sources utilisées

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/480200

Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=65a01f16-ca9a-4a4e-815e-edf26a284bcc

Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/7425257

The AIF Project (UNSW Canberra) https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=85829