Next of kin plaque: Trooper Frederick James Sanders, 12th Light Horse Regiment, AIF

Places	Africa: Egypt, Suez Canal, Kantara, Kantara War Memorial Cemetery Middle East: Ottoman Empire, Palestine, Gaza
Accession Number	AWM2016.179.1
Collection type	Heraldry
Object type	Plaque
Physical description	Bronze
Maker	Unknown
Place made	United Kingdom: England, Greater London, London
Date made	c 1922
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918

Description

Bronze next of kin plaque, showing on the obverse, Britannia holding a laurel wreath, the British lion, dolphins, a spray of oak leaves and the words 'HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR' around the edge. Beneath the main figures, the British lion defeats the German eagle. The initials 'ECP', for the designer Edward Carter Preston appear above the lion's right forepaw. A raised rectangle above the lion's head bears the name 'FREDERICK JAMES SANDERS'. A checker's mark, '2O', is impressed behind the lion's rear left paw.

History / Summary

Born in Victoria Frederick James Sanders was employed on the family farm near Albury, New South Wales, when he enlisted in the AIF on 27 July 1915. After initial training he was posted a sergeant, service number 1035, to the 4th Reinforcements for 12th Light Horse Regiment. The unit sailed from Sydney on 30 September, aboard HMAT A8 Argyllshire.

In 1916 in Egypt Sanders was attached successively to the Composite Light horse Training Regiment, the 2nd and 4th Light Horse Training Regiments and the 12th Light Horse Training Squadron, acting as a Squadron Quarter Master Sergeant. He reverted to the rank of Trooper on 12 March 1917 when he joined the 12th Light Horse Regiment in Palestine.

Sanders was severely wounded during the regiment's unsuccessful assault on the Atawineh Redoubt near Gaza, during the second battle of Gaza on 19 April. He was evacuated to 1st Light Horse Field Ambulance Anzac Dressing Station at Hill 410. He was transferred to 53rd (British) Casualty Clearing Station the following day where his right arm was amputated, before being moved again, to 2nd Australian Stationary Hospital at El Arish. Sanders died there, aged 27, on 22 April, from the effects of his amputation and a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was buried in the El Arish Military Cemetery. In 1925 his body was reinterred in the Kantara War Cemetery in Egypt.

This commemorative plaque was sent to his widowed stepmother, Hannah Maria Sanders, in August 1922.