Bunbury soldier's extraordinary bravery during World War I remembered

Australia Broadcast Center

25-04-2025

As the faint glimmer of dawn bounced off the water of the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 15, 1915, Private Dick Clarke huddled in silent anticipation among his brothers-in-arms of the 11th Battalion.
Their landing craft was approaching what would become Anzac Cove.
Born Mervyn Ephraim Clarke on May 31, 1894 in the town of Bunbury, about 170 kilometres south of Perth, he was one of 10 children born to the town's first elected mayor, Ephraim Clarke, and his wife Louisa.
Dick Clarke was 20 years old when he landed at Anzac Cove.
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ABC South West: Andrew Williams
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Dick and his older brother Raymond were part of the first batch of men who signed up for the Australian Imperial Forces after the outbreak of the war.
They were also in the first group of soldiers to reach the beach at Anzac Cove.
The battle in Gallipoli
On that first day, Dick was one of eight men sent on a dangerous mission to reinforce a small, isolated trench in front of the main firing line at the bottom of Shrapnel Gully.
Before long, just one man remained by Dick's side, Corporal Tom Louch.
The two men had made it, but were trapped in potholes for the next four days while battle raged around them.
In desperation, both men made a mad dash to escape to safety through the trench systems.
Mervyn "Dick" Clarke (top right) was one of ten children.
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Supplied: Juliet Inwood
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Dick went on to become part of a celebrated Gallipoli sniping team that caused grief to Turkish sharpshooters and officers.
His brother Raymond was among the sniping team, along with Bunbury friends Tom Rose and Harry Buswell.
The Western Front
Dick spent four months in Gallipoli before being evacuated due to illness.
While he would not see any further action in Gallipoli, his war was far from over.
For the next three years, Dick was plagued by illness and injury, being shot in the head twice and once in the shoulder as he fought in battles across the Western Front, including the Somme.
Photo shows
A son and father stand next to each other and smile.
As 94-year-old Australian war veteran Patrick Forbes prepares for his final Anzac Day march, he reflects back on his family's history of service which saw three members awarded the distinguished Military Cross.
He went through officer training, identified as a leader, and rose to the rank of lieutenant by July, 1917.
A year later, on August 10, 1918, during an attack on an enemy stronghold near Lihons in France, Dick was struck in the face by an exploding bullet from a German sniper.
Believed dead, he lay without sight for two days before he felt safe to call for help.
He was horrendously wounded, suffering severe facial injuries, losing his right eye and having the optic nerve severed in his left eye.
Military historian and author Jeff Peirce said of all the stories of Anzac veterans from World War I, Dick's was among the most extraordinary.
"It's astounding to me that he made it through all that," he said.
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There's no doubt he should have received multiple medals for bravery.
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During his recovery after the war, Dick learnt carpentry and cabinet making skills at St Dunstan's, a school for blind soldiers in London.
Life back in Bunbury
When Dick returned to his hometown of Bunbury, with the help of his brothers, he met Irene, who he would go onto marry and raise five children with.
Juliet Inwood, Dick's youngest child, said she didn't learn the extent of her father's experiences during the war until after he died in 1986.
Juliet said Dick was a wonderful father to her.
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ABC South West: Andrew Williams
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"He didn't talk to me about the war," she said.
"Most of it I've learnt from what's been written in these books and what they went through."
Juliet said she never saw a darkness in her father, and that unlike so many other veterans of the Great War, he didn't bring it home with him.
Dick was fiercely independent and never let the injuries he sustained in the war define him.
"He wouldn't walk like a blind man, he would stride out," Juliet said.
Dick and Irene had five children, David, Benjamin, Francis, Angela and Juliet.
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ABC South West: Andrew Williams
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She said he was kind, jovial and quite the character in Bunbury.
Dick was a common sight on his tandem bike, which his children rode around town with him.
"He and mum would get on the kitchen floor and do a dance, and she would say, 'Oh Dick, you are a fool,'" Juliet said.
She wondered what he would think of the fuss made about him now.
"It's just a pity he isn't here now to hear all the nice things we've said about him."