Sapper Richard Benjamin Hills

Sapper Richard Benjamin Hills (949, 12th Field Company) was born in West Wallsend, NSW. He was working as a cadet journalist when he enlisted in March 1917. Richard was working with a night party repairing trenches on 7 February 1918 when he was hit by shell fragments. He died two hours later in an Advanced Dressing Station and was buried in a small cemetery at Fusiliers Wood near Klein Zillebeke, Belgium. After the war, Richard’s body could not be located so he is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium. Richard’s mother later wrote that he was 17 years 7 months of age at the time of his death. Richard’s cousins, Lieutenant David Henry Avard, MC, and Private Ernest Joseph Wright, were also killed in action.