“GREAT DASH AND OFFENSIVE SPIRIT”
Cecil Roy Richards
1893 – 1973
By mid 1916 Roy Richards realised he had made a mistake. Enlisting in the 6th Field Ambulance in March 1915 had seemed like a good idea, but after serving with the medical corps in Egypt, Gallipoli and then in France he must have felt desperate for a change.
Much of the work with the field ambulance was monotonous and seemingly pointless. His school friend George Bell who had also joined the field ambulance summed it up in a letter home in August 1916: “We were ordered back a good way behind the line to do fatigue work for beginners. It was good healthy work, lumping timber and cement blocks, duck walks & so on & plenty of riding in motor wagons. Had been on it about a week when we got ordered to move & there was such a muck-up of the move I got sick of the business & applied for D.H.Q. job and got it. It was not the old crowd at all in the ambulance, everyone who had a chance was getting out of it & and the reinforcements were a lovely crowd, don’t know where they picked them all up.”
Transfer into a more exciting aspect of the Great War beckoned and Roy Richards chose the Royal Flying Corps. By 1917 he was piloting an F.E.2d (double seater aircraft) as part of the 20th Squadron, RFC. More than that, he became one of the squadron’s most successful pilots, being awarded the Military Cross “for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when on offensive patrols in attacking and shooting down hostile machines. On one occasion he shot down four in one day, displaying great dash and offensive spirit.”(Citation - 27 Sept 1917)
In all Richards shot down twelve enemy planes between 14th June and 16th August. But on the 19th August his luck ran out and he was shot down at Quesnoy, east of Arras and well behind the enemy front line.
Days later a German aircraft dropped a letter over the British lines notifying them that Roy Richards had survived his crash and was now a prisoner of war.
His family, back home in North Carlton must have been mightily relieved:
The Argus, Melbourne 21 November 1917:
PRISONER OF WAR
RICHARDS Flight Lieutenant C.R. A message has been received from the Secretary of War by Mr A Richards, Princes Hill, that his son, Flight Lieutenant C. Roy Richards, M.C. of the Royal Flying Corps, who was reported missing in August, is a prisoner of war in German hands. Lieutenant Richards gained the M.C. for shooting down five Hun machines in one day.
Roy’s father, Alf Richards, was a teacher at the Princes Hill School. Before WWI the family lived a few doors from the school at 109 Arnold Street and later at 25 Garton Street.
Roy’s younger brother, Willie Ross Richards, also served in WW1, initially in the Army Medical Corps with the Hospital Transport Corps in hospital ships. Like Roy he then sought more active service. He joined the Australian 3rd Division Medium Trench Mortar Battery and survived his years on the Western Front, being awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in January 1919. His commendation reads: “…Bombardier Richards has filled the position of Quartermaster Sergeant to this battery. At all times this non-commissioned officer has shown great tact and decision in dealing with the many problems with which he has been faced and his work has been of the greatest assistance to his commanding officer. He has performed his duties with marked ability and has displayed untiring energy and devotion to duty throughout…” (Commonwealth Gazette No 67, June 1919).
Both Roy and Willie Richards returned to Australia in 1919. Roy Richards came back to his career as an engineer and Willie returned to his studies and became a solicitor.
The distinguished war service of the two Richards boys is commemorated on the Princes Hill Roll of Honour:
Richards Roy
“ Ross