It is time to experience the words ‘Lest We Forget’ in a whole new light. The people of New England are invited to attend a formal military graveside dedication service for a local Gallipoli veteran who would have remained forgotten, if not for a family history researching collaboration. For 83 years, until earlier this year, the remains of Trooper Harry Fry had been in an unmarked grave. The ceremony for the forgotten digger will (fittingly) take place on Remembrance Day at 12 noon in the Anglican portion of the Armidale Lawn Cemetery. The community is being encouraged to witness Trooper Fry being given the belated formal military send-off that he deserved.
Trooper Harry Fry was born on September 25, 1866 and enlisted on November 4, 1914. He served in the AIF 5th Light Horse Regiment, ‘A’ Squadron, served at Gallipoli from May 19, 1915, until evacuated on July 18, 1915, returned to Australia on December 21, 1915. He was medically discharged on April 12, 1916 and died on March 5, 1929, in the Armidale District Hospital.
After many years of searching, Harry’s great-grand niece, Mrs Lila Vincent, with the assistance of the New England Heritage Centre and the Armidale Dumaresq Council, located Harry’s resting place in an unmarked grave at the Armidale Cemetery. In mid-2012, the Australian War Graves Commission had a headstone put in place.
This Sunday, November 11, 2012, Mrs Vincent, along with family and the community, supported by 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers, will see a military Graveside Dedication Service for 488 Trooper Harry Fry.
Warrant Officer Class Two, Wayne Bulmer is a Training Sgt Major at the Gaza Training Depot, Armidale within the 12th/16th Hunter River Lancers and has coordinated the military role in the rare service. “It will include military members in uniform, a firing party, a military padre, the Last Post and more. It will be a very special occasion. Most of Australia’s Gallipoli veterans have long since been respectfully buried and commemorated,” he said. “I strongly encourage the public to attend. This event is a chance for the community, the family and the local military unit to pay their respects to one of our fallen soldiers, a Gallipoli veteran,” he said.
