British War Medal 1914-20 : Sergeant R W Moffatt, 17 Battalion, AIF

British War Medal 1914-20. Impressed around edge with recipient's details.

Associated with the service of Roy Wallace Moffatt, who was born in Newtown, Sydney in 1894. Moffatt, a 20 year old blacksmith's assistant, enlisted for service with the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (ANMEF) on 16 August 1914. He was assigned to H Company, 1 (Tropical) Battalion, with the service number 863 and the rank of private.

Moffatt embarked from Cockatoo Island with the ANMEF aboard HMAT A35 Berrima on 19 August. After a brief period of training on Palm Island, the force invaded German New Guinea and the neighbouring islands of the Bismarck Archipelago. The Union Jack was raised at Rabaul on 13 September.

After serving in Rabaul and Bougainville on garrison duty, Moffatt returned to Sydney and was discharged in January 1915. He enlisted for service in the AIF on 9 February 1915 and was assigned to B Company, 17 Battalion, with the service number 626. The battalion left Sydney on 12 May 1915 aboard HMAT A32 Themistocles, arriving in Egypt in early July. In Egypt Moffatt was detached from the battalion and assigned as batman to Lieutenant Cyril Johnston, who had been left in charge of 5 Infantry Brigade's horse drawn transport, while the brigade served on Gallipoli.

Moffatt rejoined 17 Battalion when it returned to Egypt in January 1916. The battalion moved to France in March and Moffatt transferred to C Company in May. He was promoted to lance corporal in November 1916 and to corporal in January 1917.

On 28 February 1917 Moffatt received a gunshot wound to the thigh. After hospital treatment in England and further training he rejoined his battalion at the beginning of August 1917. He was promoted to temporary sergeant on 25 September. Moffatt was awarded the Military Medal for an action which took place on 9 October 1917, during the Third Battle of Ypres. Two other members of the battalion, Sergeant David Roberts (see REL/15225.001) and Corporal Sylvester James Nimmo (see RELAWM16887.001) were also awarded Military Medals in the same action.

In February 1918 Moffatt transferred to B Company of the Permanent Cadre of the Overseas Training Brigade in England. He was promoted to temporary company quartermaster sergeant in June 1918.

Reverting to the rank of sergeant, Moffatt rejoined the 17th Battalion on 8 September 1918, in time for the final operations on the Hindenberg Line. He received gunshot wounds to both his legs on 3 October, the battalion's last day of action in the war. Evacuated first to 58 (British) Casualty Clearing Station and then to 1 Australian General Hospital at Rouen on 5 October, Moffatt was transferred to the Countess of Lytton's Hospital in London on 17 October.

There a decision was made to amputate his right leg above the knee. His left leg, which had suffered a severe fracture to the knee and loss of part of the calf, was able to be saved. Moffatt recovered sufficiently from his wounds to be allowed leave over Christmas and New Year.

On 4 January 1919 he was admitted to 2 Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Southall, which specialised in the rehabilitation of amputees and the manufacture and fitting of prosthetic limbs. He was discharged from hospital on 20 February and returned to Australia on 16 March 1919. Moffatt was discharged from the AIF on 6 June, 1920.