Their bodies are buried in peace; but their names liveth for evermore.

Their Duty Done

A tribute to the men and women of the East Gippsland Region who Died as a result of their participation in World War One : 1914 - 1919

29 Private Frederick William Sparrow – Swan Reach/Lakes Entrance Killed in Action 2 May 1915

Frederick was the second son of William and Antje Sparrow of Swan Reach to enlist. He was born in 1890 at Swan Reach and completed his early school there before the family moved to Broken Hill. They were following the mining fields and after the death of his mother in 1909, William shifted the family of six children to Western Australia. When Frederick was 24 years old he enlisted with the 16th Battalion on 14 September 1914, three weeks after his brother Rupert had enlisted. He embarked on the Ceramic on 22 December 1914 and just like his brother, he too disappeared on 2 May 1915 just days after landing at Gallipoli. Just like his brother his “missing in action” notification was sent to his sister Florence. A court of enquiry twelve months later on 13 May 1916 heard that he went out with several others to charge a position at Dead Man’s Ridge on 2 May 1915. They took the position but the casualties were very heavy. As far as the witness knew this man’s body had not been found and the witness did not think he had been seen since. Frederick and Rupert’s sisters, Florence and Amy, constantly wrote to the Department seeking information about their brothers and at one time were told one was in a London hospital with pleurisy when he was already missing. Their father William, enlisted just four months after his sons, and put his age down by almost ten years to serve. Their older brother Stanley also enlisted in July 1915. Perhaps both thought that they would “catch up” with the boys in Gallipoli. Their father did get to Gallipoli but not until after Fred and James had both disappeared. William was discharged in 1917 when the authorities discovered his true age of 59 years. Brother Stanley survived France and returned home. Frederick’s body was not recovered and he is remembered on the Lone Pine memorial.