FRYER, Albert Douglas

Albert Douglas Fryer was born in 1892 th,e son of Robert Frye and his wife, Marianne or Maria Theresa Bird/Baird. He was born in Windsor, Victoria, a small suburb of Melbourne, but was living with his father at 44 Jolimont St., Jolimont, East Mlebourne, when he enlisted on 7 January, 1916. He signed his attestation on 21 February, just a month short of his 24th birthday. In it he declared himself single, a clerk by occupation and Church of England by religion.

He was sent to Broadmeadows initially, and trained with the C/10 Depot Battalion. On 13 March, he weas transferred to the Australian Medical Corps, Royal Park, and began training for ambulance duty at the front. On 14 June, he was sent 'on loan' to the Alfred Hospital, where he remained until 4 December. He was then transferred to the Military Camp at Seymour, where he was attached to the Seymour Clearing Hospital within the camp. Here he was attached to the 3rd Light horse Ambulance unit and embarked with the 3rd Light Horse for the Middle East on board RMS Morea on 2 February, 1917. They disembarked at Sydney and then re-embarked on board the Mashobra, which took then to Bombay. From Bombay, they were sent on to Suez, arriving on 4 April, 1917. On 2 May, the men finally marched out to Moascar. 

The 3rd Light Horse Ambulance was a military unit whose purpose was to provide medical transport and aid to wounded and ill soldiers at the front. Each ambulance unit was commanded by a Lieutenant-Colonel and all officers were either medical doctors or surgeons. Often the ambulances had dental units attached. The Ambulance units operated in the Middle East - in Egypt, Syria, Sinai and Palestine. Once in place, they were divided into two Sections, the Mobile Section and the Immobile Section. The Mobile Section travelled with the brigade into combat, setting up a Dressing Station to treat the wounded. Wounded men were taken off the field by horse-drawn cart to the Dressing Station. The Immobile Section established a receiving station behind the lines. Once taken off the field the wounded were sent first to the Dressing Station, then to the Receiving Station or Casualty Clearing Station, then to the nearest Base Hospital. 

The 3rd Light Horse had fought as infantry at Gallipoli and had been evacuated to Egypt with the rest of the Australian force in mid-December, 1915. They were then engaged with the battle to protect the Suez Canal and th in defeating the Ottoman armies in Egypt. In late October, 1917,  when Albert Fyer joined the Ambulance Unit,  they were fighting at Beersheba  and in the Third Battle of Gaza in November. From there, they pushed back the Ottomans and captured the major cities, Jerusalem, Jaffa, Jericho, Amman, then in September-October 1918, Megidde and Nablu. The Ottoman Empire representatives signed the Armistice of Mudros on 30 )ctober, 1918, bringing the war to an end. The 3rd Light Horse's casualties over the campaign were 158 dead and another 653 wounded. Throughout these battles, Alfred Flyer and his comrades follwed the Light hOrse ot every battle to treat the wounded and carry out the dead.

On 18 January, 1919, he was attached for duty at Cairo, where there were undoubtedly many sick men waiting to recover enough to leave for home. On 25 May, he was granted leave and decided to go to England, where he did some training with the Wolesley Sheep Shearing Company from 17 July-18 August, 1919. The company declared itself as highly satisfied and were pleased to 'report very favourably on the work done by the member of the AIF placed with them for experience'. 

Albert Fryer returned to Australia on board HT Devon, embarking on 8 October amd landing in Melbourne on 27 November, 1919, and returning to his father's address. He was officially discharged from further service on 11 December. By 1924, he was married, to Greta Martha, and lived at 22 Broomfield Rd. Auburn. He was workign as a traveller. By 1927, they had moved to Rosella St., Carnegie. It must have been a fairly new suburb as there was no number attached to the street address. They were still there in 1963 and he was still working as a traveller, but he died that same year. He and Greta had two children, Donald Albert Fryer and Keith Allan Fyer.