Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

World War I, once known as the war to end all wars, began in 1914 and dragged out to 1918. The war was extremely brutal and was a war full of violence, with over 40 million casualties recorded by the end of the war. 

An estimated 62 000 Australian Soldiers were killed out of the 417 000 who enlisted as soldiers in World War I. In South Australia, there were around 208 000 men residing in the state at the time of World War I. Out of these men, 34 959 enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force. One of these South Australian soldiers was Harold Frederick Cade.

Harold Frederick Cade was born in Adelaide, South Australia on the 3rd of June, 1888 to the late Mr and Mrs W. Cade. He presumably had an older sibling and lived in West-Terrace. Harold Cade was known to be a very talented athlete, playing Cricket, Football and Lacrosse, as well as Swimming. He played football for Port Adelaide and West Adelaide’s senior football teams. He was taught at the now-defunct Currie Street Primary School and later studied at Pultney Grammar School. While at the primary school, Harold Cade was part of the Pirie-Street Methodist Choir. After high school, Harold Frederick Cade joined the Royal Garrison Artillery, a branch of the Australian Army for guarding and protecting coastlines. He was first sent to Fort Largs in Port Adelaide but then was deployed to Thursday Island, part of the Torres Strait Islands.

After returning from Thursday Island to South Australia, Harold Cade took charge of a large warehouse somewhere in North Adelaide, most likely near the Morphettville racecourse. While at the warehouse, he enlisted in the 10th Infantry Battalion of South Australia.

Harold Frederick Cade enlisted in the 10th Infantry Battalion on the 19th of August, 1914 at the Morphettville Enlistment Centre. He was one of the very first to enlist in the army from South Australia, as his service number shows (79). 

Harold Cade trained with his fellow members of the 10th Battalion at the Morphettville racecourse. Training at Morphettville started on the 3rd of September 1914 but stopped abruptly on the 5th of October. Military commanders in the army ordered the battalion to leave Australia in a fortnight to prepare for battle. On the 20th of October, Harold Frederick Cade and the rest of the 10th Battalion boarded the HMAT Ascanius, bound for the Middle East. There was concern and risk that German ships would be using the same route to the Middle East so the ship proceeded towards Egypt. After two months of training in Alexandria, Egypt, Harold Frederick Cade and the rest of the troops there were given orders to capture the Dardanelles Strait from where it enters the Mediterranean Sea. 

Harold Frederick Cade was sent to fight in the Gallipoli peninsula after a failed naval attack on the Turks in the Dardanelles. Harold Frederick Cade became heavily injured after the landing in Cape Helles. He was taken into a makeshift General Hospital nearby and was given treatment. After recovery, Harold Frederick Cade rejoined the rest of the 10th Battalion to the Western Front in Pozieres, France. The 10th Battalion fought in the Battle of Pozieres, part of the larger and bloodier Battle of the Somme. The aim of the battle was to recapture the village of Pozieres from the Germans. Harold Cade was then transferred to the Somme and was given the rank of Lance Corporal in the process. 

While fighting in the Battle of the Somme, Harold Frederick Cade was shot and killed by a round of artillery fire by the Germans on the 21st August 1916. Harold Frederick Cade was only 28 years old when he was killed. His body was never recovered from the battle. He was killed just over two years after he enlisted in the war. Harold Frederick Cade was just 28 years old at the time of his death, leaving many of his close friends in the army and in Adelaide behind. 

Harold Frederick Cade’s body was never recovered from the Battle of the Somme and there was no known grave or burial place that was given to him. His name is remembered, though, in the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial in Fouilloy, Somme, France. He is also remembered in the Adelaide National War Memorial (In South Australia) and the Australian War Memorial.