589 Private WOOD “Ted” Wilfred Edgar

36th Battalion, Machine Gun Section 

Ted was born near Cooma. The son of NSW Police Sergeant Thomas Wood and Mrs Wood. He had one Sister. 

Ted enlisted at Liverpool on 18 January 1916, aged 24 years and 4 months. He was single and a shop assistant living in Young where his Father, and next of kin, Thomas, was appointed to Young Police Station. 

Ted embarked HMAT A72 Beltana from Sydney on 13 May 1916 to Devonport. He proceeded to France from Southampton on 22 November 1916. 

On 1 February 1917 Ted reported sick to 9th Australian Field Ambulance in Boulogne. Suffering from spinal paralysis and shell shock, he was sent to England on the Hospital Ship Cambria. Ted was admitted to the Frensham Hill Military Hospital, Surrey. He returned to Rouelles, France on 24 August 1917, marching back into his Unit on 1 September 1917. 

Ted was reported missing in action on 12 October 1917 in Belgium. On 27 October 1917 it was determined that Ted had been killed in action on 12 October 1917. A later inquiry into Ted’s death, prompted in part by his Father’s request for additional information, provided more details. On 25 April 1918, 3154 Private HORAN Matthew Thomas said: “Was in D Coy 13th Pltn called Ted. He was next man to me and I saw him lying dead. He was killed by shell and I was wounded by the same shell. It happened at Passchendaele on October 12th. We were just going into the line at the time. I was taken away immediately after, so don’t know where he was buried.” 

Known unto God. Ted is remembered on the Menin Gate Memorial Ypres, Belgium.