POWELL, Edward Watson
| Service Number: | 187 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 19 August 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Second Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | Royal Flying Corps |
| Born: | South Yarra, Victoria, Australia, 1892 |
| Home Town: | Prahran, Stonnington, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Died: | Flying Battle, Belgium, 31 October 1917 |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Arras Memorial, Arras, Nord Pas de Calais, France. Commemorative Roll, AWM |
| Memorials: | Ballarat Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial, MCC Roll of Honour 1914 - 1918 - Melbourne Cricket Club |
Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks
On 31 October 1917, 2nd Lieutenant Edward Watson Powell, an Australian serving with 84 Squadron RFC was shot down and killed when piloting an SE5.
2nd Lieutenant Powell was last seen near Menin but has no known grave and is remembered on the Arras Memorial. Powell, of Prahran Victoria was only 22 when he enlisted in 1914 and he also served at the Landing on Anzac as a member of the 2nd Field Ambulance AIF. He survived 5 months on Gallipoli before being evacuated sick with dysentery. He was promoted to Sergeant in France during 1916 and served with the 1st Division HQ.
Powell had also been a member of the Melbourne Cricket Club prior to the war and in 1921 his mother posted the following memorial notice in a Melbourne newspaper, “In loving and proud memory of my dearly beloved only son, loving brother of Jean and Mary, Lieut. Edward Watson Powell, R.F C., (A.I.F.), killed in action while on patrol over the enemy's lines in France, 31st-October, 1917, after three years' service, aged 25-years,
'A clean and beautiful life given for others,'
'Tis only a chain of memories pure and sweet,'
'Tis only a mother's aching heart.’
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