Air Mechanic 1st Class William H. Lord

Name William Henry Lord Date of Birth 1894 Place of Birth Fitzroy, Victoria. Australia Occupation Brass Moulder Date of Enlistment 30th March, 1915 Place of Enlistment Footscray, Victoria. Flying Unit Mesopotamian Half-Flight Previous Unit 66th Infantry Service Australian Flying Corps Theatres Mesopotamian AIF Rank Air Mechanic 1st Class Awards - Victories - Nickname - AIF Fate Died while Prisoner of War Date of AIF Fate 13th July 1916 Final Rank Air Mechanic 1st Class Date of Death 13th July 1916 Place of Death Iraq Cause of Death - Notes There is uncertainty on William Lords date of death. Different sources place his death in either 1916 or 1918.

William Lord joined the Australian Flying Corps as an Air Mechanic (no. 23) on the 30th of March 1915, transferring from the 66th infantry. His father also William, was the caretaker of the Central Flying School at Werribee, where he lived with his family. William with his brother Hector decided to join the AFC after discussion with their father.

During his training at Point Cook a scandal rocked the Lord family when William's girlfriend Annie, informed him that she was carrying his baby. William denied that the baby was his, but he could not let the child grow up a "bastard" and decided to marry Annie. As the simple ceremony concluded, William bid his new wife goodbye on the church steps and walked out of her life, never to see her again. He did make certain that a proportion of his pay be allotted to his wife and her child.

After his basic training, which was less than a month, he and twelve other mechanics were to join the Australian Half Flight in Mesopotamia, departing Melbourne on the P&O Liner Morea, on the 20th of April 1915. The voyage being far from uneventful, William in a letter home wrote that 2 men were to be sent back to Australia for being AWOL in Colombo. The Morea arrived in Basarah on the 26th of May 1915.

William joined the 6th Division at Kut el Amara, there he worked on Maurice Farmans until the Turks besieged Kut. It was then that the Air Mechanics of the Half Flight proved their worth, under the command of Captain Winfield Smith, a British pilot, they erected mills for grinding wheat and barley, the grain being dropped to the garrison by the planes of the Half Flight, in all, nearly 5 tonnes of food and medical supplies were dropped at Kut, a magnificent achievement considering the machines being flown at the time.

However this was not enough to save Kut, and the garrison finally capitulated, 13,000 prisoners were marched 700 miles to Anatolia. Hector in a letter to his mother simply wrote. "Mother, William has been captured by the Turks, I am fine".

Of the 44 flying corps mechanics captured, only 6 survived the march, one being Lord, they were then put to work on the railway through the Tarsus Mountains. Conditions were harsh and the men treated poorly, food was in short supply, as were medical facilities, these took there toll on Lord and he was admitted to hospital for dysentery. Lord finally passed away on the 13 of July 1916 (1) . His family had to wait almost a year until his death was finally confirmed in a letter written by Captain T.H. White, also a prisoner of the Turks.

Of the 13,000 POW's captured at Kut only 2,000 were to survive the horrendous conditions imposed by the Turks, of the 13 AFC Air Mechanics sent to Kut only 2 were to survive.

William and the other 11 mechanics are now buried at Bagdad (North Gate) War Cemetery in Iraq, their eternal sleep has been disturbed as the graves have been desecrated.

1. A letter from Air Mechanic Hudson dates Lord's death as 1918.
2. Biography of William Lord courtesy of Andrew Smith.

Name William Henry Lord Number 23 Rank Airman 1st Class Aircraft - Squadron Mesopotamian Half Flight Unit Australian Flying Corps Service Army, Australian Imperial Force Conflict World War I Date of Death Thursday, 13th July 1916 Cause of Death Died POW Memorial Panel 188 Memorial Details Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetary, Iraq Next of Kin Son of William John and Deliah Lord; husband of Annie Moya Enlistment St Kilda, Victoria, Australia Source AWM 145 Roll of Honour cards, 1914-1918 War, Army. Commonwealth War Graves Roll of Honour Card. Further information courtesy Andrew Smith. Notes Lord's Date of death is uncertain, sources give conflicting dates as 1916 and 1918.

Lest We Forget

The Australian Flying Corps website would like to acknowledge the assistance of Andrew Smith in compiling William Lords Service card and Roll of Honour Card. William Lords biography is authored by Andrew Smith.