Not Forgotten, 7483 Private Arthur James HICKS. 11 Battalion AIF, World War 1

Private Arthur Hicks, a farmer from Minnivale, was born in Kadina in South Australia in 1885, the son of Walter Ernest and Ellen Elizabeth Hicks who lived in Fremantle at the time of his enlistment. On 27 September 1916 Private Hicks enlisted at Perth at the age of 30 years and 11 months although his initial medical examination was in Dowerin in June 1916, and he was placed in the 11th Battalion. Private Hicks embarked from Fremantle on HMAT A30 Borda on 29 June 1917 and was in training at Sutton Veny before he proceeded to France on 8 January 1918.
The 11th Battalion was among the first infantry units raised for the AIF during the First World War. It was the first battalion recruited in Western Australia, and with the 9th, 10th and 12th Battalions it formed the 3rd Brigade. The battalion helped to stop the German spring offensive in March and April 1918, and later that year participated in the great Allied offensive launched east of Amiens on 8 August 1918. This advance by British and Empire troops was the greatest success in a single day on the Western Front, one that German General Erich Ludendorff described as “the black day of the German Army in this war”
The 11th Battalion continued operations until late September 1918. Their final attack came against the Hindenburg Outpost Line on 18 September when they launched a three-company attack around Fervaque Farm and Carpeza Copse near Villeret, a very small French village in the midst of the Somme battlefields. Despite being severely understrength – each company had an average strength of just 76 men – they advanced over 3,000 yards or 2,700 m and took over 120 prisoners and large quantities of German equipment, for the loss of 18 men killed.
Arthur Hicks was killed in action on 21 September 1918 and has no known grave. He is commemorated on the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.
On file are several letters from Arthur Hick’s father, Walter, and from a solicitor to Army Base Records asking for a copy of Arthur Hick’s death certificate as they were unable to settle his estate without it. The executor of Arthur Hick’s will was John Paul Harris, storekeeper of Minnivale.
Private Hicks was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.