More than one third of the 62,000 Anzacs who died in WW1 are still listed as missing with no known graves. This is the story of one woman who never stopped looking for her soldier.
Lieutenant Mordaunt Reid was paid the ultimate accolade by war historian and correspondent, Charles Bean, on the morning of the Gallipoli landing, he said he was a ‘born leader’. Mordaunt Reid and his party of 60 Anzacs reached Battleship Hill just before dawn on the 25th April 1915. On the approach Mordaunt was looking through his binoculars when he felt a thud in his left leg, a bullet had hit him high up on his thigh, he could see immediately it was a bad wound and he crawled to some bushes to gain cover. He was never seen again.
Lieutenant Mordaunt Reid
Mordaunt Leslie Reid grew up on the remote Puckawidgee Station, about 320 kilometers north of Melbourne. He attended school in Melbourne and then went on to ‘The Working Mans College’ where he became to first student to graduate in Electrical Engineering. The lure of adventure called to Mordaunt to Western Australia in 1905 where he arrived in Coolgardie. There he secured a job as manager of the Electrical Supply Company of WA. His older brother Leonard had fought in the Boer War with the 4th Victorian Imperial Bushmen and nurtured his interest in soldering with his stories of the South African Veldt. As part of the nations military training system, Mordaunt assumed the role of area trainer for the Coolgardie, Southern Cross and Norseman districts. By 1910 he had achieved the rank of second Lieutenant of the Goldfields Infantry Regiment.
Mordaunt shared his adventures with his sweetheart Pauline Esmer Victoria Pearl nee DOWD, who he married in Melbourne in 1905. She was also of an adventurous spirit and didn’t hesitate to relocate to Coolgardie. While the couple enjoyed their vibrant life, Mordaunt kept a wary eye on the troubles in Europe in 1914. He was stunned to hear on the 6th August that war had been declared. Mordaunt tidied up his affairs and enlisted in Kalgoorlie on the 7th September 1914. Late in the following February Lord Kitchener ordered the British commander to dispatch 36,000 Anzac troops. On the 24th of April, the super dreadnought, the Queen Elizabeth led a vast array of vessels towards Gallipoli. Mordaunt and his comrades let out a spontaneous cheer. Soon the casualty lists started pouring in and by the 31st May the roll numbered over 4500 casualties.
This trickle soon became a torrent.
Pauline was at this time working as a nurse in a Perth hospital, with no family in WA she had decided to train as a nurse so she could also serve overseas. She would scan the newspaper lists daily, fearing seeing Mordaunt’s name. After seven months of training she booked a passage to Egypt. On May the 15th she scanned the casualty pages of the West Australian and saw under the heading ‘Wounded and Missing’ Lieutenant Reid 11th Battalion, wounded. Shortly afterwards she received a telegram to say Mordaunt had been evacuated to Egypt and was not seriously wounded. She postponed her passage to await further news when she received another telegram to say he had now been classified as wounded and missing. Rather than wait for official news she wrote to newspapers and cabled hospital overseas to seek answers.
Sydney Mail Wednesday 14 April 1920, page 22
Through these inquiries, she learnt from a fellow officer, who had been invalided back to Australia, that Mordaunt had been shot in both hips. He was adamant that Mordaunt was a prisoner in Constantinople. Another report said he was in hospital in Malta and in a bad way. Pauline re booked her trip to Egypt and in September of 1915. She joined the staff of the No 2 Australia Hospital and in her spare time she learned basic Arabic so she could question any prisoners who were brought in. 
As she went about her work she was always asking “did you know Lieutenant Mordaunt Reid?” She would also pass on messages to soldiers families at home who waited for news, as she had done. She held an unwavering conviction that Mordaunt was still alive, he was an experience bushman who could have found his way through the scrub back to the beach. She also knew through the Red Cross, that there were many men in hospitals who were so damaged they didn’t know their own names. Her strongest lead came from Bugler Frederick Ashton who was wounded with Mordaunt. He was initially classed as ‘died from wounds’ but his family later heard from him that he was a prisoner of war, where he said there were a further 50 Australian prisoners with him. This renewed Pauline’s efforts, and in September of 1915 she arrived in London where she secured a role as assistant secretary to Mary Chomley in the Red Cross prisoners of War Department.
Here she worked 14-16 hour days making sure that three parcels of food were sent to each prisoner each fortnight. She would often add soap and cigarettes to the parcels from her own pocket. During this time she would meet up with Mordaunt’s sister Evelyn, also a nurse, where they talked of happier times. In April of 1916 she was informed that Mordaunt was now classified as ‘killed in action’. Pauline, unperturbed by the news, continued with her efforts. Then out of the blue she received a letter from Bugler Ashton via the American Embassy in Constantinople. She dreaded opening the letter in case it was the end of all her hopes. After reading a few lines her heart sank. He said that after they landed on the beach he and Mordaunt never saw each other again. After 18 months her hopes that Ashton could help her find Mordaunt were dashed. She now thought that there was only a remote chance that Mordaunt was a prisoner of war. She continued working for the Red Cross long after the war ended and until the last prisoner was returned. Of the men captured at Gallipoli, only 38 returned and they were in a very bad condition.
Her experience cultivated in her an unbounded faith in women and their ability to play their part in ‘the national life’.
The Prisoners of War Dept closed in June 1919. At a small gathering Pauline was presented with a small gold matchbox tied with the saxe-blue and chocolate colours of Mordaunt’s 11th Battalion. This small gift marked the realisation for Pauline that Mordaunt would never return home. She was to receive the ‘Order of the British Empire’ in recognition of her work with the Red Cross.
The staff of the Red Cross prisoners of war Department, London 1916, Pauline Reid is in the front row 6th from the left.
References:
This story is an extract from ‘The Nameless Names – Recovering the Missing Anzacs’ by Scott Bennett.
The Australian Newspaper – 9 November 1918.
Thanks to Amanda Brown for sending me the story.
Moya Sharp
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