Summary

Group portrait of Australian servicemen, B Company, 23rd Battalion, 1st AIF, France, World War I, circa 1917-1918.

From a collection associated with the World War I service of Lieutenant Hedley Long, 23rd Battalion, 1st AIF. A note on the back of the photograph explains: ''Portion of B Company. I was not present. H L'.

Hedley Long was a 24-year old spring maker, single and living in Ballarat, when he enlisted on 25 March 1915. He joined the 23rd battalion as a private - service number 970. He embarked 8 May 1915, and arrived in Alexandria, Egypt, on 10 January 1916. Before the end of January he was in hospital with mumps, then in March was shipped to Marseilles, en route to the Western front. In October he was made Lance Corporal, and in December was Mentioned in Dispatches. In July 1917, having avoided wounding requiring hospitalization, he was was a cadet officer in Oxford. Only in July 1918 was he hospitalized, for illness rather than wounding (his records later mention that he suffered influenza in 1918). He later returned to the front. After the war, in May 1919, he was promoted to Temporary Second Lieutenant in the British Army. He arrived back in Melbourne on 7 September 1919. During World War II Hedley Long served as an ARP (Air Raid Patrol) warden.

Description of Content

Large group of troops seated on a scrubby slope.

Physical Description

Black and white photograph on paper.

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