British War Medal 1914-20 : Sergeant J S Wade, 2 Light Horse Regiment, AIF

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

456 Sergeant John Stanley Wade enlisted at Lismore, NSW, on 24 August 1914 and was assigned to C Squadron, 2 Light Horse Regiment, AIF. Born in Ballarat, Victoria, Wade was a 24 year old farmer from Kyogle, NSW at the time of his enlistment. He had previously served in the militia for three and half years with 4 Australian Light Horse Regiment (Hunter River Lancers). After training at Enoggera in Brisbane, the regiment sailed for Egypt aboard the troopship Star of England. In May 1915 the regiment left Egypt, aboard SS Devanah, without their horses, for service at Gallipoli, landing at Anzac Cove in the early morning of 12 May. They bivouacked in Monash Valley that night before relieving 15 Battalion and taking over the defence of Quinn's Post at noon the following day. Sergeant Wade's personal record gives two slightly conflicting accounts of his death but it appears that he was wounded either by Turkish rifle fire or a grenade thrown into the trenches on 13 May and died the next morning in Monash Valley while being carried down to the beach for evacuation to a hospital ship. Wade was buried at Shrapnel Gully. Wade's elder brother, 6918 Private Thomas Allan Wade, served with 22 Battalion. He was severely wounded at Morlancourt, France on 10 May 1918, and died nine days later.