Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

LIEUT. REGINALD GEORGE LEGGE (Coogee).

Born at Glen Innes, Reginald Legge was the nephew of General James Legge.  He was educated at Mount Victoria, Coogee, and Cleveland-street Public Schools.

He entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 7 March 1912 as the youngest entrant thus far.  He was a member of the guard of honour formed by the cadets at the naming ceremony for Canberra on 12 March 1913. Along with the rest of his class, Legge was graduated early on 2 November 1914 and enlisted as a Lieutenant with the Machine Gun Section of the 13th Battalion.

They landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and soon afterwards (on 2 May) Legge earned the Military Cross for his "ability and courage in the successful handling of his machine gun section. On several occasions he inflicted severe losses on the enemy and was severely wounded in the neck". In August 1915 he was wounded a second time by a bullet in the neck and was evacuated to hospital in London where it was removed.

He rejoined the 4th Brigade (of which the 13th Battalion was a part) in Egypt in January 1916 and promoted to Captain.  Under the 'doubling of the AIF' plan a major re-orgnaisation took place before the AIF headed to France.   In March 1916 Legge was appointed as Staff Captain in the 15th Brigade under the command of Brigadier General Harold 'Pompey' Elliott. He travelled to France with the 15th Brigade and was involved in the Battle of Fromelles during 19/20 July 1916. Later that year the brigade moved to the Flers sector.

After training as a Brigade Major at 5th Division Headquarters in early 1917, Legge was appointed to that role with the 14th Brigade in September 1917. A week later the 14th Battalion fought at the Battle of Polygon Wood in Belgium and then along Broodseinde Ridge. For his work in preparing the Brigade for Polygon Wood, Legge was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

He continued in his Staff role during 1918 during which time the 14th Brigade fought at Villers-Bretonneux, Morlancourt, Peronne and Bellicourt. He returned to Australia in March 1919 and in August 1921 he married. Legge remained in the army after the war and in 1938 returned to Canberra as the Officer Commanding Corps of Staff Cadets at RMC. He was appointed Director of Military Art at RMC in November 1939 and then as Commanding Officer of the Small Arms School at Randwick in early 1940. He died in Sydney on 9 April 1940.

Wounded.
Awarded the Military Cross for Bravery.

Lieutenant Legge is one of the youngest recipients of the new military decoration, the Military Cross, he being only 19½ years of age. This was awarded him for ability and courage in handling machine-gun sections. He inflicted severe losses on the enemy on several occasions, and was severely wounded in the neck.
Lieutenant Legge is the youngest son of Mrs. Legge, Auroa, Arden-street, South Coogee, and is the nephew of Brigadier- General Legge, who succeeded the late Major-General Bridges in command of the Australian Division at the Dardanelles.

He entered Duntroon College as the youngest entrant on record, leaving there in his second year to take command of the machine-gun section of the now badly cut up 13th Battalion. He was wounded on June 12, and was taken aboard a stationary French hospital ship in the Gulf of Saros. A week later he was back again in the thick of it. The older brother of this promising young officer is a sergeant in the Army Service Corps of the Australian Expeditionary Forces.

He was accepted, after research, for commemoration as war dead on 21/09/2011