Leopold Arthur Appleyard
Leopold Arthur
Appleyard was the 12th of 14 children of George and Jane Appleyard
and the second son to enlist for the Great War.
At 19 years old, Leo was too young to enlist without his parents’ consent so his mother Jane went with him, and, with her husband, signed her consent for her youngest son to become a soldier and follow his brother Gordon into war.
“I hereby give my consent to our son Leopold Arthur Appleyard to volunteer for active service with the Australian Imperial Force.”
Barely two months after Gallipoli, the number of young men enlisting was at its peak and Leo would have felt great pride in volunteering on July 8 1915 and following in the steps of his older brother.
Like his cousin Edgar before him, Leo was assigned to the 8th Light Horse Regiment and, by February 1916, while in Heliopolis, Egypt, was appointed as a Driver to the regiment.
During WW1, drivers were used by the British Army with the rank the equivalent of a Private. In the Light Horse, the drivers would drive the teams of horses pulling the guns into the battlefields. With the introduction of tanks and other mobile artillery options, the drivers were phased out, redesignated as gunners.
The 8th regiment from Victoria was assigned to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade and by July 1917, Leo was based in Abasan, located in southern Palestine and supporting the British Army during a six month standoff between the Army and the Ottomans. In late October 1917, the Third Battle of Gaza and Beersheba were launched.
The success of the Lighthorse Brigade at Beersheba started an Ottoman withdrawal back towards Jerusalem, the battle for which lasted from 16 November to 8 December 1917.
On 28 February 1917, the Lighthorse brigade entered Khan Yunus, midway between the Egyptian border and Deir el Belah causing the Ottoman forces to withdraw. The railway was pushed forward to Deir el Belah, which became the railhead in April 1917, and an aerodrome and camps were established there.
Leo would spend much of March at Deir El Belah, seemingly an oasis in the middle of the desert, and now one of the Commonwealth’s War cemeteries with over 720 soldiers buried there.
By July, Leo was relocated to Bethlehem and then Jerusalem.
The war in the Middle East ended on October 31 1918, almost 4 years to the day after it commenced and Leo returned to Australia in July 1919, four years and one month after enlisting.
In 1921, Leo married and moved to Queensland where he and wife, Lydia would welcome the birth of their four children, three girls and a boy.
Leo embarked back to Sydney in February 1943 and saw out the remainder of the war working in maintenance under the 25th Battalion, based at the Cape River Meatworks in Queensland. Built by the Army in 1943, the operations were designed to cope with the increased requirement of meat for soldiers posted both in Australia and overseas.
Relationship with Peter Appleyard, Grandson
At 19 years old, Leo was too young to enlist without his parents’ consent so his mother Jane went with him, and, with her husband, signed her consent for her youngest son to become a soldier and follow his brother Gordon into war.
“I hereby give my consent to our son Leopold Arthur Appleyard to volunteer for active service with the Australian Imperial Force.”
Barely two months after Gallipoli, the number of young men enlisting was at its peak and Leo would have felt great pride in volunteering on July 8 1915 and following in the steps of his older brother.
Like his cousin Edgar before him, Leo was assigned to the 8th Light Horse Regiment and, by February 1916, while in Heliopolis, Egypt, was appointed as a Driver to the regiment.
During WW1, drivers were used by the British Army with the rank the equivalent of a Private. In the Light Horse, the drivers would drive the teams of horses pulling the guns into the battlefields. With the introduction of tanks and other mobile artillery options, the drivers were phased out, redesignated as gunners.
The 8th regiment from Victoria was assigned to the 3rd Light Horse Brigade and by July 1917, Leo was based in Abasan, located in southern Palestine and supporting the British Army during a six month standoff between the Army and the Ottomans. In late October 1917, the Third Battle of Gaza and Beersheba were launched.
The success of the Lighthorse Brigade at Beersheba started an Ottoman withdrawal back towards Jerusalem, the battle for which lasted from 16 November to 8 December 1917.
On 28 February 1917, the Lighthorse brigade entered Khan Yunus, midway between the Egyptian border and Deir el Belah causing the Ottoman forces to withdraw. The railway was pushed forward to Deir el Belah, which became the railhead in April 1917, and an aerodrome and camps were established there.
Leo would spend much of March at Deir El Belah, seemingly an oasis in the middle of the desert, and now one of the Commonwealth’s War cemeteries with over 720 soldiers buried there.
By July, Leo was relocated to Bethlehem and then Jerusalem.
The war in the Middle East ended on October 31 1918, almost 4 years to the day after it commenced and Leo returned to Australia in July 1919, four years and one month after enlisting.
In 1921, Leo married and moved to Queensland where he and wife, Lydia would welcome the birth of their four children, three girls and a boy.
When Australian Prime Minister, Robert Menzies
committed Australian troops to fight alongside England in 1939, Leo again signed up, this time with his son Kenneth. As an
engine driver, and his experience in the desert from WW1, Leo was quickly assigned to the 3rd Railway Construction Company.
Arriving
in Palestine in October 1940, Leo served in Rafa, Syria and the Suez,
building tracks for transporting equipment and provisions as well as
maintaining and driving the engines used by the Allies. The company was also involved in
fighting with one of their sappers being awarded the Military Medal for
rescuing 6 men from an inferno on the Tobruk Harbour. Leo embarked back to Sydney in February 1943 and saw out the remainder of the war working in maintenance under the 25th Battalion, based at the Cape River Meatworks in Queensland. Built by the Army in 1943, the operations were designed to cope with the increased requirement of meat for soldiers posted both in Australia and overseas.
Having
seen action in two World Wars, Leo was 49 by the time the war ended in
1944, and, would live out the remainder of his life quietly with his family in
Queensland until 1967 when he passed away aged 72.
Leopold Arthur
Appleyard
Born: August 1 1895, Alberton, Victoria, Australia
Died: November 16, 1967, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaRelationship with Peter Appleyard, Grandson
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