Outdoor portrait of Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Ivie Blezard. During South Africa, 1899-1902 ...

Outdoor portrait of Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Ivie Blezard. During South Africa, 1899-1902 (Boer War) he served as a private with the Victorian (Citizen) Bushmen. He was severely wounded on 4 March 1901 and invalided back to Australia. Prior to the First World War, Blezard worked as a town clerk at Moama, NSW, and was a Captain in the Citizen Military Force for ten years. Captain Blezard embarked from Melbourne with H Company, 7th Battalion, aboard HMAT Hororata (A20) on 9 October 1914. Promoted to Major, then Second in Command, Blezard was severely wounded at the Gallipoli landing on 25 April 1915. He returned to Australia aboard HMAT Themistocles, disembarking at Melbourne on 10 September 1915. He was among a group of returned soldiers who attended a meeting on 16 September 1915 to form a Returned Soldiers’ Association in Victoria, being appointed one of the vice presidents. Major Blezard’s AIF appointment was terminated in February 1916. He returned to his work as town clerk and continued to serve in the Army Reserve List as a Lieutenant Colonel. Lt Col Blezard died in 1940. Three of Lt Col Blezard’s five children served in the Second World War. N283222 Gunner William Marchant Blezard and VX114273 Lieutenant (Lt) Jack Walton Whidburn Blezard served with the Army. Lt Jack Blezard was killed in action on 3 February 1943, serving with 2/5 Independent Company in New Guinea. VX111185 Lt Egyptsia Ivie Blezard served with the Australian Army Nursing Service. (See also P04072.001, P04072.003 and PB1416)