2608 Sergeant Frederick John Hicks, MM, NZFA, 18/5/1888-14/2/1923.

The death took place at Christchurch Military Sanatorium on Wednesday of  Frederick Thomas Hicks, aged 35 years. Deceased, who was a brother of Mrs W J Dudley's, had been in bad health since returning from the war.  -Opunake Times, 16/2/1923.

Farmhand Frederick Hicks joined the army shortly after the beginning of the war and served in Egypt, Gallipoli and France.  

Hicks' Battery (10th) of the New Zealand Field Artillery, was involved as were many others in the massive bombardment which was a prelude to the "Big Push" of the British Army in 1916, which was to use the massive number of 1914 volunteers, now trained for combat, to tear a hole in the German front line and return to the open combat of the beginning of the war.  It is now known as the Battle of the Somme and legendary for its strategic failure.  Mountains of shells were stockpiled for the bombardment which, the British were sure, would turn the German trenches opposite into blasted moonscape which their men would walk into and occupy without opposition.

The British, however (except for a general or two) were unaware that the German troops were sitting underground in concrete bunkers during their bombardment, coming up with machine guns ready to fire when the shelling stopped.

German artillery returned fire during these bombardments and it was from the result one of these exchanges, and generally during the bombardment period that Frederick was awarded the Military Medal.  The citation read: For courage and devotion to duty covering period 6/26th September at Longueval and beyond Delville Wood, particularly on 25 September, on which date, when a shell burst at the door of the gun pit wounding some of his detachment he kept the gun in action and supervised the bandaging of the wounded and sending them away. The work of this NCO is always good, and he sets a fine example to all his men when conditions of shelling, etc, are bad. (London Gazette, 9 December 1916, p12058)

Next month, on October 6th, Frederick suffered a serious head wounded.  One of the entries in his records is a strange one.  It reads: "GSW head, sick mental, prog fav."  He was on the "dangerously ill" list until the end of that month.  A descendant's note on his "Online Cenotaph" entry mentions a shrapnel wound rather than specifically a gunshot wound as the cause of his injury, which makes more sense for an artilleryman behind the front line.  Either way, rifle bullet or shrapnel bullet, it was a very serious wound.

Frederick was sent home on the "Ionic" in September, 1917.  His address upon discharge was the sanatorium at Hanmer, used for soldiers' recuperation.  He lived at Waimate for a short time before being admitted to the Cashmere Sanatorium, Christchurch which was also used for solders' recuperation at the time.

I can only imagine that the permanent effects of his head wound were such that he was incapable of living any kind of life without ongoing care and medical support.  Six and a half years after his wound, Frederick Hicks died from it at Cashmere Sanatorium.

Waimate Cemetery.