HICKS, Lisle
| Service Number: | 794 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 18 August 1914 |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | Instructional Staff (AIF) |
| Born: | Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia, 1892 |
| Home Town: | Bendigo, Greater Bendigo, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Electrician |
| Memorials: | Bendigo Great War Roll of Honor |
World War 1 Service
| 18 Aug 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 794, 7th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Oct 1914: | Involvement Private, 794, 7th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '9' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Hororata embarkation_ship_number: A20 public_note: '' | |
| 19 Oct 1914: | Embarked Private, 794, 7th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Hororata, Melbourne | |
| 14 Jan 1915: | Promoted AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 7th Infantry Battalion | |
| 25 Apr 1915: | Wounded AIF WW1, Lance Corporal, 794, 7th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli, GSW to upper extremities. | |
| 24 Jan 1917: | Promoted AIF WW1, Corporal, 7th Infantry Battalion | |
| 1 Jun 1917: | Transferred AIF WW1, Corporal, Instructional Staff (AIF), Signalling | |
| 3 May 1918: | Discharged AIF WW1, Corporal, 794, Instructional Staff (AIF), RTA on Special 1914 leave |
Lisle Hicks
Lisle, whose full name was actually Alma Union Lyle Hicks was my Great Uncle, on my father's side. He was born on 19 July 1892 in Broken Hill, NSW, and named after three Broken Hill mines that were operating at that time, The Alma, The Union and The Lyle mines. At some point, he stopped using his first two Christian names and became known as Lisle (with an alternate spelling).
When WW1 commenced in 1914 he enlisted, at the age of 22 in the 2nd Battalion AIF and was amongst the first Australian diggers who stormed the beaches at Gallipolli on 25 April 1915, during which he sustained a gunshot wound to his upper body.
He survived Gallipoli and subsequently went on the fight in Northern France on the Western Front and in the Battle of the Somme, before ending his military career as an Army instructor. After the war, he returned to Australia where he married Olive Dundas, my Grandfather's sister in 1919, and went on to become a Police Officer in Victoria. He continued living there for the next 50 years, finally dying on 14 October 1969, in Heidelberg, VIC. Olive followed him in 1981.
Lisle and Olive had three children, Olive Lisle Hicks, Roy Dundas Hicks and Joseph Hugh Hicks. All three served in WW2 and were decorated, with Olive serving in the Royal Australian Air Force, Roy in the Australian Army and Joseph as a Petty Officer in the Royal Australian Navy.
Submitted 11 December 2020 by Hugh Dundas
Biography contributed by Carol Foster
Brother of Albert Edward Hicks who returned to Australia on 28 March 1919 and Thomas Hector Hicks MM who returned to Australia on 31 March 1919
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