An informal portrait of 2364 Company Quartermaster Sergeant (CQMS) Sydney Edwards, of West ...

An informal portrait of 2364 Company Quartermaster Sergeant (CQMS) Sydney Edwards, of West Leederville, Western Australia, at Berne, Switzerland, after escaping from German captivity. A stockman and sheep breeder before enlisting in April 1915, Private (Pte) Edwards left Australia for Egypt with the 7th Reinforcements of the 11th Battalion in June 1915 and served on Gallipoli for a month before being evacuated with constipation and influenza. He was transferred to the 51st Battalion as part of the 'doubling-up' of the AIF in May 1916, and was rapidly promoted from Pte to CQMS in March 1916. After arriving in France for service on the Western Front in June 1916, CQMS Edwards took part in the 51st Battalion's attack on Mouquet Farm on 3 September 1916 and was wounded in the left thigh and taken prisoner. He was interned at the Lazarette at Grafenwöhr, Germany, and in December was transferred to the prisoner-of-war camp at Nürnberg (Nuremberg) where he was a Senior British Officer (SBO) for British and Commonwealth prisoners. In June 1917 Edwards was transferred to the NCO punishment camp at Lechfeld for refusing to work manual labour for the Germans, and on 29 April 1918 made a successful escape with three other prisoners by cutting through the wooden bars from his cell and lowering himself out through the window by using a bed sheet. Travelling 160 kilometers on foot to cross the Swiss frontier on 9 May 1918, CQMS Sydney Edwards was the first Australian prisoner to make a successful escape to Switzerland during the First World War. He was repatriated to Australia in June 1918, and the following year was awarded the Military Medal (MM) for "gallant conduct and determination displayed in escaping...from captivity". The escape map used by CQSM Edwards during his escape forms part of the Memorial's Escape Map collection in the Research Centre at RC08512.