Group portrait of three privates, all probably, of the 3rd Light Horse Regiment. Centre is 863 ...

Group portrait of three privates, all probably, of the 3rd Light Horse Regiment. Centre is 863 Private (Pte) Horace Alfred "Alf" Cadd, 3rd Light Horse, of Yorke's Peninsula, SA. Pte Cadd was a farmer prior to enlisting on 2 December 1914. He embarked with the 4th Reinforcements from Adelaide on board HMAT Port Lincoln on 1 April 1915. He served at Gallipoli from August to December 1915. Pte Cadd was hospitalised with severe illness several times during and after the campaign. Fit for service in September 1916, he was transferred to the 43rd Battalion and in November promoted to Lance Corporal. Shortly afterward he arrived for service in France. In May 1917 he was promoted to Corporal and in June to Temporary Sergeant . On 24 June 1917, he was awarded the Military Medal (MM) for bravery in action during the Battle of Messines, Belgium, 7 June 1917. He was promoted to Lance Sergeant (L/Sgt) on 12 July 1917. On 31 July 1917 L/Sgt Cadd's unit was attempting to take a windmill near Warneton, Messines. They left their trench at approximately 4am and throughout the course of the day, the windmill was taken, lost and regained. L/Sgt Cadd was shot and killed, possibly by a sniper, at about 6pm. One member of his unit reported that while "..attempting to carry back one of the men who was wounded (he) was shot...He was considered the best soldier in the battalion by all who knew him". The other soldiers in the portrait have not been identified, however, written on the back of the photograph is: "To Dear Mum with Love Alf XX / these are my to (sic) mates." L/Sgt Horace Alfred Cadd MM was 23 years of age. A cousin of L/Sgt Cadd, 462 Pte Edwin Cadd, 3rd Machine Gun Battalion, died of wounds in France on 20 July 1917.