Hugh Decimus Bridge

Corporal

Conflict:

WW1

Additional Information:

Son of Herbert Bowen Bridge and Adele Leonore Bridge, of Wellington; husband of Joyce Miriam Bridge, of Wellington, New Zealand.

References:

CWGC

Archives New Zealand

Relatives Who Are Also Casualties:

Lance Bridge, Brother, Died of wounds, on H.M.H.S. "Dongola," 13/08/1915

NZ WAR GRAVES

Public Contributions:

Known to all as "Deci", Hugh Decimus Bridge was the youngest of eight surviving siblings who grew up in Wellington at Oriental Bay. He was close to the next youngest, Lance, who was touted for All Bl...ack honours [Fullback] and competed with Tiny Freyberg in swimming races at Te Aro saltwater baths. He was also a notable rower and boxer. Deci was also an allrounder, a rowing champion at Star Boating Club, and Wellington Junior Athletics Champion in 1906. In 1904 he had been voted most popular boy at Roseneath Primary School. Later, he sang with the Wellington Operatic Society, through which he met his future wife, Joyce. Five months after the birth of their only child, Audrey ['Peggy'], Deci yielded to the call and enlisted with the Wellington Battalion [Lord Liverpool's Own] of the NZ Rifle Brigade and sailed for Britain and the Western Front in September 1916, with the rank of Sergeant. Upon arrival the ANZACS were stripped of their NZ rank, leaving Deci determined to prove his worth on the battlefield. This he did on 12 October 1917 during the 3rd Passchendaele battle, saving his section in a shellhole before spending the next day working to a standstill stretchering the dead and dying to the casualty clearing stations. Promoted to Corporal, he volunteered for dangerous reconnaisance in no-mans-land near Polygon Wood during which he was killed by a single sniper bullet on 25 November. I visited his grave at British New Buttes Cemetery in Polygon Wood, Belgium with a Wellington College tour group in 2006 where I was overcome with emotion at finding my Grandfather's gravestone among the countless thousands that populate huge cemeteries in Belgium and Northern France. Lance Bridge had enlisted at the outbreak of WW1 and went to Samoa with The NZ Expeditionary Force, where they basically swam and feasted, seeing no military action. Upon return to NZ they were posted to Gallipoli. Lance died at sea in August 1915 of wounds sustained when he went to the rescue of a mate on Rhododendron Ridge during the Wellington's assault on Chunuk Bair. On that same Wellington College tour in 2006 I was again emotionally overcome to see Lance's name inscribed in the Lone Pine memorial. Deci and Lance are also commemorated on the small war memorial at the entrance to Roseneath School, on a plaque at the adjacent Anglican church of St Barnabas, and on the honours board at the Star Boating Club. Read More

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Casualty

Service Number:

24332

Name:

Hugh Decimus Bridge

Rank:

Corporal

Date of Birth:

Not known

Next of Kin:

Mrs J.M. Bridge (wife), 282 Queen's Drive, Lyall Bay, Wellington, New Zealand

Date of Enlistment:

Not known

Occupation on Enlistment:

Clerk

Armed Force:

Army

Unit:

3 New Zealand (Rifle) Brigade, 3 Battalion, B Company

Casualty Details

Cause of Death:

Killed in action near Reutel

Date of Death:

25 November 1917

Day of Death:

Sunday

Age at Death:

Conflict:

WW1

Embarkation Details

Embarkation Body:

New Zealand Rifle Brigade

Embarkation Place:

Wellington, New Zealand

Embarkment Date:

25 September 1916

Transport:

HMNZT 64

Vessel:

Devon

Destination:

Devonport, England

Text in italics supplied by Cenotaph Online, Auckland War Memorial Museum

Cemetery

Cemetery:

Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood

Cemetery Reference:

XII. A. 9.

Cemetery Location:

Belgium