Private Edgar Adams: Australians at Gallipoli
Australian Department of Veterans' Affairs
[{'start': '0.840', 'end': '9.840', 'text': '[Music]'}, {'start': '9.840', 'end': '13.240', 'text': 'Frederick Adams was a fruit grower in Mildura,\xa0Victoria,'}, {'start': '13.240', 'end': '18.600', 'text': 'when he enlisted in the 8th Battalion\nin August 1914, aged 24.'}, {'start': '18.800', 'end': '23.840', 'text': 'The following month,\xa0his younger brother \nEdgar also enlisted in the\xa08th Battalion.'}, {'start': '23.840', 'end': '29.600', 'text': 'Edgar was just 18 and listed his\xa0occupation \nas a surveyor and engineer.'}, {'start': '29.600', 'end': '36.200', 'text': 'Frederick\xa0embarked for overseas service \naboard HMAT Benalla\xa0in October 1914.'}, {'start': '36.200', 'end': '39.200', 'text': 'In December, only a few days\xa0before Christmas,'}, {'start': '39.200', 'end': '43.840', 'text': 'Edgar followed, embarking\xa0at Melbourne\non HMAT Themistocles.'}, {'start': '43.840', 'end': '47.600', 'text': 'Both men\xa0were ultimately bound for Gallipoli.'}, {'start': '47.600', 'end': '50.600', 'text': 'Both landed\xa0on 25 April.'}, {'start': '50.600', 'end': '54.120', 'text': 'During the landings at Gallipoli,\xa0Frederick \nwas shot through the head.'}, {'start': '54.120', 'end': '57.120', 'text': 'He\xa0was buried in Artillery Road Cemetery,'}, {'start': '57.120', 'end': '60.800', 'text': 'and his parents received his death \ncertificate\xa06 months later.'}, {'start': '61.800', 'end': '64.800', 'text': 'The fate of his younger brother,\nhowever, was unclear.'}, {'start': '65.120', 'end': '71.720', 'text': 'Private Edgar Adams, 8th\xa0Battalion, was reported missing \nin action on the\xa0day of the Gallipoli landings.'}, {'start': '71.720', 'end': '77.440', 'text': 'Months later, on the 1st November 1915,\na bottle washed up on a beach near'}, {'start': '77.440', 'end': '82.760', 'text': 'Alexandria in Egypt with a message inside \nhastily\xa0written on a scrap of paper.'}, {'start': '82.760', 'end': '88.760', 'text': '‘Am prisoner about 2\xa0miles from where\nwe landed ... E R C Adams 8AIF.’'}, {'start': '90.000', 'end': '94.200', 'text': 'The paper was at first kept\nby the Records Office\xa0in Cairo,'}, {'start': '94.200', 'end': '97.400', 'text': "but then eventually sent home to\nEdgar's\xa0father, James Adams,"}, {'start': '97.400', 'end': '100.400', 'text': "who confirmed that the\xa0message\nwas in his son's handwriting."}, {'start': '100.800', 'end': '106.800', 'text': 'The message\xa0offered hope that he may be among\nthe Australians\xa0held in Turkey as prisoners of war.'}, {'start': '107.400', 'end': '113.000', 'text': 'His parents\xa0began to send letters via the International \nRed\xa0Cross in the hope they would reach him,'}, {'start': '113.000', 'end': '116.200', 'text': 'but the\xa0lack of response caused further anxiety.'}, {'start': '116.200', 'end': '122.200', 'text': '‘My son,\xa01127 E.R.C. Adams, is now\nknown to be a prisoner\xa0in Turkey,'}, {'start': '122.200', 'end': '127.200', 'text': 'and frequent mention has been made in\xa0reference\nto letters being allowed to be written\xa0by prisoners.'}, {'start': '127.200', 'end': '131.440', 'text': 'Can you give any reason why we\nhave\xa0never yet received one?'}, {'start': '131.440', 'end': '136.000', 'text': "Each time a list of\xa0prisoners is issued,\nour boy's name is always\xa0included."}, {'start': '136.000', 'end': '141.440', 'text': 'Do you know if the majority write,\xa0or is it very rare\nfor a letter to be received from prisoners?'}, {'start': '141.440', 'end': '145.280', 'text': 'It seems a mystery to us why\xa0we\nshould never receive one word.'}, {'start': '145.280', 'end': '147.640', 'text': 'We write\xa0to him constantly.’'}, {'start': '149.600', 'end': '156.640', 'text': 'In May 1917, their letters\xa0were returned with a note\nthat no trace of the\xa0addressee could be found.'}, {'start': '156.640', 'end': '165.560', 'text': 'In July 1918, a court\xa0of inquiry recorded the verdict\nthat Edgar died\xa0on or about 25 April 1915'}, {'start': '165.560', 'end': '170.200', 'text': 'whilst a prisoner of\xa0war in Turkish hands,\nand the War Office stated,'}, {'start': '170.200', 'end': '175.040', 'text': '‘If they were prisoners of war at all,\nit was\xa0only for a very short time.'}, {'start': '175.040', 'end': '181.000', 'text': 'It has been found from experience that attempts to\nascertain from\xa0the Turkish government the fate of men'}, {'start': '181.000', 'end': '187.000', 'text': 'who are\xa0supposed to have been captured, but who\napparently\xa0did not reach any permanent hospital'}, {'start': '187.000', 'end': '190.760', 'text': 'or internment\xa0camp, are fruitless.’'}, {'start': '190.760', 'end': '195.760', 'text': "Edgar's name is listed among\xa0the missing\non the Lone Pine Memorial."}, {'start': '195.760', 'end': '203.000', 'text': "The scrap\xa0of paper with Edgar's handwriting was the\nlast\xa0trace his parents would ever receive of their son."}, {'start': '203.000', 'end': '207.000', 'text': '[Music]'}]