264012 Tpr. Edgar George Rice Australian Army 8th Light Horse Regiment My Grandfather, Edgar Rice enlisted for duty in Bendigo on the 12th of September 1914. Trooper 439 C Squadron, 8th Light Horse Regiment.
He returned to Australia on the 17th of December 1917.
He was an extremely brave man.
Edgar is my Mother's father, & unfortunately,
he passed away when my mum was very young on 6th of May 1945.
My mum Marie therefore, left school and went out to work to do her best to earn a few pounds, so the family could survive.
Mum told me that when she was a young girl, Edgar would take her to a park in Melbourne, where there was a statue of Simpson and his donkey, and tell her stories of how he knew him during many conflicts early in WW1, and his brave deeds.
Edgar suffered a gun shot wound to the hip as he arose from the trenches on the morning of 7th of August 1915 during
The Battle of the Nek.
That morning, the 8th Light Horse Regiment were the first two waves of brave men that jumped out of the trenches, with pure Aussie bravery, but were unfortunately hit with a huge amount of gunfire.
Many brave Diggers passed away instantly.
It must of been devastating to see your mates lose their lives, in front of your own eyes that fateful morning.
Edgar, somehow, made it back to the trenches, before he was hit by more gun fire.
To be honest, it's a miracle that I am writing this right now.
If it wasn't for the courage and bravery of my Grandfather,
I wouldn't be here to tell his amazing story.
Unfortunately, so many men lost their lives, and never came home.
Each and every one of them fought for our freedom.
God Bless Our ANZAC'S
"LEST WE FORGET"
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