Sergeant Frederick (Fred) Abraham William Cleaver Peachey

Fred Peachey was a 21 year old baker at the time he enlisted in Grafton NSW, on 19 September 1914. He was appointed Private in the 15th Battalion, embarking from Melbourne on 21 December 1914. After training in Egypt, the 15th Battalion arrived in Gallipoli on 4 June 2015. Peachy was wounded two months later, during the Koja Chemen Tepe offensive in August 1917, receiving gunshots to the head and arm. He was initially transferred to hospital in Heliopolis, and then relocated to Australia to recover. He embarked again in October 1916, this time disembarking in Plymouth, and from there proceeding to France on 15 January 1917. Three months later, on 11 April 1917, he was taken Prisoner of War during the first battle of Bullecourt. On his capture he was ordered, alongside two others, to retrieve the bodies of Australian soldiers from the trenches. They were told to bury the bodies in shell holes, with 20 or 30 in each hole. Peachy estimates he buried 200 soldiers. He spent seven months as a Prisoner of War, working behind German lines in France and Belgium, before a remarkable escape from Quartes, Belgium, on 5 November 1917. Peachy escaped alongside Private Jack Lee, from the 14th Battalion. Their escape route first took them to Frasnes, in south-western Belgium, where Peachy gained a map from a young Belgian girl, which she’d concealed in a rubbish heap. The following three weeks saw Peachy and Lee manoeuvring towards the Netherlands border. They arrived at Rotterdam on 27 November 1917. From there the British Consul arranged their repatriation to England on the S.S. Peregrine. They arrived in England on 30 November 2017. Peachey remained on duty in England until returning to Australia in August 1919. During this time he was promoted from Private to Corporal, and then to Sergeant. He was discharged on 17 October 1919. He was awarded the Military Medal for ‘gallant conduct and determination’ for his successful escape from German captivity. Following the war, Peachey served in the NSW police force. He died on Armistice Day, November 11, 1964, aged 72.