Gallantry Awards for Enoggera Boys.
Tracey BartonSeveral men whose names appear on the Enoggera State School Roll of Honour received awards for gallantry during WW1.
Gallantry awards are given to servicemen and women for performing duties with extreme courage and devotion when under fire in hostile conditions in battle.
The Military Cross with Bar was awarded to
- Lieutenant Hector James Abbott Ferguson for re-establishing communication lines whilst under heavy enemy fire during battles on the Western Front. Letters in his army dossier reveal he may have been the first Queenslander to receive a Bar to his Military Cross.
The Military Medal was awarded to
- Private William Thomas O’Donoghue
- Corporal John Francis Thompson and
- Private Clarence James Ansell.
Whilst we know these men acted bravely under extreme conditions on the battlefield and under heavy enemy fire from enemy forces, we do not know the exact circumstances the award was given to Private O’Donoghue and Corporal Thompson and were unable to find their citations in official records.
The citation for the Military Medal awarded to Private Ansell at Bray-sur-Somme states he was a company runner with his division and carried valuable information backwards and forwards on the battlefield under heavy fire from enemy machine gunners and snipers which greatly aided his superior officers maintain communication.
Several soldiers were also Mentioned in Dispatches. A soldier mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) is one whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer. This report is sent to the high command in which the soldier's gallant action in the face of the enemy is described. This was also published in the London Gazette and the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette. The soldier received a certificate and was entitled to wear an oak leaf on the ribbon of whichever service medal the gallant action took place.
Lieutenant Hector James Abbott Ferguson was mentioned in divisional orders for acts of conspicuous bravery at Gallipoli and his brother, Sergeant Malcolm Abbott Ferguson, was mentioned in dispatches for brave actions during battles on the Western Front.
We proudly remember the bravery of not just these men, but all those soldiers named on the Enoggera State School Roll of Honour.
