www.nickhodge.com

Review­ing the Show

• Too many umms and errs again. Got to remem­ber to shut up when think­ing. Silence for sub-seconds are ok. Could blame the slack­ness on my neck being out caus­ing vagueness.
• More mod­u­la­tion in emo­tion when speaking
• Tim­ing worked well. Missed the mid-point video due to time restrictions.
• Ten minutes before the show began, I restruc­tured the flow (swap­ping Hodge and Roberts) for dra­matic and story effect. A change that ulti­mately worked
• Post-show review­ing the chat stream: the amount of chat­ter vs. the viewer count seems to indic­ate people are listen­ing. This seems to make my show a little less enter­tain­ment and more documentary/educational. Cool.
• The quo­ta­tion from C.E.W. Bean at the end, which I had heard on a TV doc­u­ment­ary and quickly found the ori­ginal online, was a per­fect book-end to the show. Very mov­ing paragraph.

The Lost Uncles

Show Notes: These are the notes that I use to prompt me as I am present­ing the show. The notes are not sen­tences, they are prompt­ing phrases. There is usu­ally extra inform­a­tion in the notes I do not get to men­tion­ing. This is also good prac­tice for SEO. Search engines can­not (yet) get inside the video.

Mid last year, Angus Hodge, the 1^st per­son I will talk about tonight, appeared in an online per­sonal fam­ily his­tory site. Lis­ted as a WW1 vet­eran.
Wow, lead me on a jour­ney through per­sonal histories.

National Archives of Aus­tralia http://www.naa.gov.au/
http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/
Provides ALL WW1 vet­eran per­son­nel doc­u­ments online
Can request WW2 details to be scanned and put into online (you pay, gets shared!)

Aus­tralian War Memorial online lib­rary: deeper research and unit his­tor­ies
daily war diar­ies of WW1 units; writ­ten by the officers over­view of the maps, move­ments, people and mil­it­ary events. Engage­ments are also detailed. Down to the “Com­pany” ~ 100 men.

Book: Les Carlyon, on The Great War; largely fol­lows the offi­cial his­tor­ies, with polit­ical ‘col­our’
Charles E. W. Bean: offi­cial his­tor­ian, very humble man ‘of his time’ ; wrote of the individuals

More than read­ing the his­tory books
Peter Fitz­si­mons, excel­lent books on Tobruk and Kokoda, with indi­vidual stor­ies weaved into the big­ger pic­ture.
http://anzacday.gov.au/

Band-of-Brothers: it is greater than unit, coun­try: it is about your mates. The guys next to you, around you
Thank the late Stephen Ambrose for the books
Many of these men remem­ber their time: intens­ity, stay together. Some say the only people who really under­stand what they have gone through are their war colleau­ges.
Aus­tralian sol­diers talked of Mate­ship and Cob­bers; but ulti­mately looked after num­ber 1.

No Geo-politics tonight, this is not about the Gen­er­als and Majors; nor the polit­ic­ans
Espe­cially rehash­ing the stor­ies of Gal­lipoli and Kokoda
ABC’s Gal­lipoli web site is excellent

Will cover some lar­ger back­ground where appro­pri­ate; but only as an aside.

Nor mil­it­ary tech­no­logy, the gen­er­als and majors, and the military-industry com­plex

Per­son­ally I’ve had a fas­cin­a­tion with WW2, His­tory and the Tech­no­logy since I was about 10 years old. Con­tin­ues to this day, and passed on some of that interest to Liam.

Con­trary to the 1970s school­ing of seem­ingly “for­get­ting” the war; was shunned as a topic, even in his­tory as it was felt that we were glor­i­fy­ing war; even the gen­eral study of his­tory itself was shunned.

When I was 8, learnt about Gal­lipoli (Simpson and his Don­key) and that was about it. Pretty benign view of the hor­rors of Gal­lipoli.
Gal­lipoli is described as a “birth of a nation” » many sen­ti­ments come from Bean
Aus­tralia was born in 1901.
Aus­tralia was a teen­ager at the time of Gal­lipoli.
It is here, as a teen­ager, we real­ised the world is big, dan­ger­ous
And our par­ents are not infallible.

It is the impact on the people after­wards. These impacts are sig­ni­fic­ant, and they linger.
Also note that 207,000 Aus­trali­ans killed/wounded out of 330,000 sol­diers. That’s a 65% cas­u­alty rate. Highest in Brit­ish empire
West­ern Front: 5,500 men cas­u­al­ties at Fro­melles: first major battle for ANZACs in France, one divi­sion, one night cf. Gal­lipoli over 28,000 cas­u­al­it­ies in 9 month cam­paign
Aus­trali­ans had been used, much as the Cana­dians, as shock troops by the Brit­ish com­mand wherever the line was most threatened, or where there was need to mount an attack.
The impact of WW1 across Australia’s pop­u­la­tion: massive, endur­ing
Wondered about psych makeup of John Win­ston Howard who’s father, grand­father and mother’s father served in WW1.

Lyall Howard diar­ist from WW1 front lines (doc­u­ments) ; 19 years old, accep­ted even under­height
In battle, Lyall Howard was wounded by a mus­tard gas attack in Passchendaele and spent 10 weeks in hos­pital.[1][8] The gass­ing caused chronic bron­chitis and skin rashes which would con­tinue to plague him after the war (died of bron­chitis aged 59)
“Lest We For­get” We must not for­get. When any­one dies, remem­ber­ing is important

Per­sonal Mil­it­ary Her­it­age: Two late mater­nal great-Uncles who served in WW2 (Trans­port, Admin­is­tra­tion), Uncle post WW2 Aus­tralian Army, Father in RAN for 9 years. In essence, I am a navy brat (up to age of 5, any­ways)
Stor­ies of an long-lost Uncle on my late mater­nal grandmother’s side who was “lost” in the Second Boer War. But I can­not find evid­ence of this at the moment; not lis­ted in the SA Boer war sol­diers. Unless he was a Boer, which is pos­sible.
Movies such as Breaker Mor­ant and Gal­lipoli were form­at­ive of my world view

Touch­ing RAAF-crewed Lan­caster in Imper­ial War Museum
More recent research: Three of my Dad’s Great Uncles (and one Aunty) served in the (Army, RAAF) CMF within AU dur­ing WW2
Lonely Aunties: ladies who lost their fiances, hus­bands, fath­ers and sons

The impact lasts longer; the growth of CWA; lonely ladies with long memor­ies
Wives of those who returned, who dealt with the silence and other impacts
Women played an import­ant at-home role in both WW1 and WW2 ; ulti­mately drove many fem­in­ist reforms in the 20^th century

Tonight: stor­ies of Hodge, Lock, Mason and Roberts

Angus Hodge
http://www.nickhodge.com/blog/archives/2564

Angus Hodge, aged 18 years and 2 months, Labourer of Laura South Aus­tralia
Pine Spring near, Laura, South Australia

SA ID B2824
assigned to D Coy, 43^rd Bat­talion, 11^th Bri­gade, 3^rd Divi­sion: Monash’s boys (note: Lyall Howard, Sig­nals in 3^rd Division)

http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/explore/defence/service-records/army-wwi.aspx
Note: when read­ing the indi­vidual reports you see lots of “sick, hos­pital” .. fails to show what hap­pens on the line; best to be found in the War Diar­ies
http://www.awm.gov.au/units/unit_11230.asp
43^rd Bat­talion War Diar­ies: http://www.awm.gov.au/diaries/ww1/folder.asp?folder=984

16/12/1916 “Ber­rima” to Devon­port, UK (this ship was tor­pedoed off Port­land 18 Feb­ru­ary 1917)
20÷1÷1917 Ship Hos­pital Sick, recur­ring Mumps dur­ing first year over­seas.
11÷3÷1917 Joined 11^th Bri­gade in UK
16÷4÷1917 Mumps recurred (Park­house)
4÷5÷1917 Dis­charged to “2nd Tng Bn Dur­ring­ton“
30÷7÷1917 Southamp­ton to France 11^th Bri­gade to 3^rd Divi­sion Base Depot Rouelles
24÷8÷1917 to 43 Bttn from Depot

[Btn train­ing in August and Septem­ber]
[22/9/1917 Sir Douglas Haig vis­ited and inspec­ted the 3^rd Divi­sion Sol­diers never saw the Brit­ish Gen­er­als at the front, not­ing qual­ity of Mon­ash as a leader; com­pared to Sir Keith Mur­doch (acted both as a journ­al­ist and govt agent in Lon­don), father of Rupert; and Charles E. W. Bean , fam­ous Aus­tralian War His­tor­ian; was offi­cial war cor­res­pond­ent in 1914. ]

[from War Diary: 2^nd Oct: Menin Road near Ypres; north of, known as Zon­nebeke Attack , a part of Poly­gon Wood. 2am No man’s land, 6am, zero hour, took first line 800 yards.

DCoy formed fin­ish line, CCoy in sup­port; DCoy, right flank expec­ted the most action. DCoy lost 2 officers before ‘jump­ing off’. The toll on officers dur­ing these cam­paigns is staggering

4÷10÷1917 wounded same place, Ypres; away 3 days at Field Ambu­lance, returned to unit 4 days later
8÷10÷1917 returned from schrapnel leg wound; time to move to Bre­men Redoubt in Ypres Salient

16^th Octo­ber 1917 43^rd had 40 men gassed (mus­tard) near Zon­nebeke whilst work­ing on a railway

[Nov: com­pany train­ing, Moved to Canteen Corner]

24/11/1917 to Hos­pital Sick (NYD) -> not yet determ­ined; prob­ably Flu
28/11/1917 returned to 43 Bttn

[Canteen Corner to the Line (trenches) Bois Grenier]

1÷1÷1918 to Hos­pital Sick (PUO) -> Fever (back and forth)
23÷2÷1918 returned to 43 Bttn, to the trenches at le Bizet

1÷3÷1918 On leave in the UK

[from March sum­mary: “for 4 months after Ypres, the 43^rd had been in and out of the quiet sec­tors of Bois Gren­ier and Le Bizet” … added 250 men in Dec 1917, but many were older, aged soldiers]

20÷3÷1918 returned to 43 Bttn, just in time to defend against Ger­man Spring Offens­ive (Oper­a­tion Michael)

22÷3÷1918 moved to Heilly in the Somme

[30/3/1918 attack, rebuffed the same day, Ger­man Oper­a­tion Michael]

[31^st May 1918 Mon­ash now Aus­tralian Corps com­mander, that is all Aus­tralian sol­diers on the West­ern Front. 5 Divi­sions, under Aus­tralian com­mand: as wanted by sol­diers and politicians]

[Villers-Bretonneux; “vee-ay bre­toner”: Phos­gene and Yel­low Cross/Mustard dur­ing May; Dur­ing May, 25% of A-Company repor­ted PUO. MO’s report states a pla­toon by pla­toon infec­tion, Reg Insp can­not determ­ine ‘flu, trench fever or PUO. May a total of 80 PUO cases evac­u­ated from 43^rd. 190 gas cas­u­al­it­ies at end of May. Out of the line late June]

[17/5/1918 Sir Douglas Haig, Gen­eral Officer Com­mand­ing inspec­ted DCoy, Allonville]

[3^rd June: attack on 43^rd, VB. Loss of 230 men (639 officers and ranks in early June!) in gas shelling of 25^th and 26^th May, con­sol­id­ated D into ABC com­pan­ies dur­ing May. DCoy was in the front line, most gas fell behind the lines. Rations pur­chased from money sup­plied from SA, from trade com­mis­sioner in Lon­don dur­ing June]

27^th in sup­port (Wil­liam Roberts above in 27^th)

[1/7/1918 addi­tion of Amer­ican troops; Per­sh­ing with­drew 1000 before the attack]

[4/7/1918 attack on Hamel ; extens­ive plan­ning by Mon­ash; DCoy was reformed and propped up with Amer­ic­ans; some 1000 used across this attack; some used to take pris­on­ers rear­ward and mop up; E Coy 131^st Reg US Inf]

[July 1918 attack on Hamel; Aus­trali­ans were the most exper­i­enced sol­diers on the West­ern front; not determ­ined by rank. 11^th used north of Hamel; Mark V tanks used in the attack ; plus air­craft. “Early Blitzkrieg”, as copied by Guderian in the inter-war years; ]

The tac­tical meth­ods had been tested by the Aus­trali­ans in a local counter-attack at the Battle of Hamel on 4 July. The Ger­man defend­ers of Hamel were deeply dug in, and their pos­i­tion com­manded a very wide field of fire. Sim­ilar pos­i­tions had res­isted cap­ture for two months in the Battle of the Somme. The Aus­trali­ans had used sur­prise rather than weight at Hamel. The artil­lery had opened fire only at the moment the infantry and tanks advanced, and the Ger­mans were rap­idly over­run (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Amiens)

4÷8÷1918 Cor­bie, biv­ou­acs behind the line; dur­ing August Angus was 1 of 7 wounded out of 67 fight­ing strength.

5÷8÷1918 Start of 93 minute attack; 437 cas­u­al­it­ies; at the time, most suc­cess­ful com­bined oper­a­tion at the time.

11^th Bgd were the northern-most (nearest Somme River) attack Battle of Amiens

Bash­ing against the Ger­mans 2–3 times a day; August and Septem­ber were the toughest battle time for the Anzacs on the West­ern Front; whilst attacks were bet­ter planned and more com­bined. Chalk and cheese com­pared to the Somme in 1916; ulti­mately were a spent force by Octo­ber 1918.

March through Novem­ber 23% of all pris­on­ers cap­tured, 20% of the ground. Only 10% of the Brit­ish army

5÷8÷1918 repor­ted in Hos­pital Sick — Embarked to UK within a few days (inval­ided)
10÷8÷1918 Admit­ted to St Johns, Chel­ten­ham: Old Wounded Leg, Slight (place of cas­u­al­ity: Bristol)

[frac­ture 1912 due to fall from horse wound right shin bone at site of old injury away 3 days at field ambu­lance, return to unit. July 1918 wound broke down. evac­u­ated, no operation]

24/10/1918 Furlo (R&R)
9÷11÷1918 returned to No 4 Depot (Class B1 A2)
16/11/1918 to 18/11/1918 “AWOL”, but dis­missed by Major [note: oth­ers AWOL, too post Armistance]
11/12/1918 “Saxon” returned to Aus­tralia
26÷2÷1919 Keswick Army Gen­eral Hos­pital
29÷3÷1919 dis­charged from the AIF 20% disability

Stor­ies of sol­diers return­ing to employ­ment 2 weeks after return­ing from the war. Ted Smee; repor­ted 1924 fall­ing to the ground and vomit­ing dur­ing a fire­works attack; nervous break­downs. It las­ted longer than the 4 years, and what was gained?

[get­ting death cer­ti­fic­ate; seems he didnt move far from the farm with his par­ents upon his return]
23÷3÷1920 bur­ied, Geor­getown. Fell from farm­ing equip­ment, head injury.

Temp. Sar­geant Albert Earn­est Lock
http://www.nickhodge.com/blog/archives/1886

6^th April 1917 — Assigned 102 How­itzer Bat­tery, a part of 2^nd Field Artil­lery Bri­gade, 1^st Divi­sion Artil­lery, Aus­tralian 1^st Divison. He manned one of the 4 x 4.5 inch how­itzers in this Bat­tery. He was one of 71 other ranks; a part of one sec­tion, 116^th How­itzer Bat­tery, also con­sist­ing of Major Har­ris and 2^nd Lt C Groves.

16^th May 1916 — Pro­moted to Cor­poral from Gunner

20^th August 1917 — Pro­moted to Temp. Sgt from Corporal

22^th August 1917 — Wounded in Action, remained on duty (Bel­gium) The War Diary for the 1^st Divi­sion Artil­lery has no enemy action on this date.

Third Battle of Ypres

Dur­ing this time, roads were clogged, dif­fi­cult to move the heavy guns.

9^th Octo­ber 1917 — Died of Wounds / Killed in Action from shrapnel through the heart; dur­ing the Battle of Poel­cap­pelle. (map) (a part of Passchendaele ). The 102 How­itzer Bat­tery was fir­ing on China Wood in a Search and Sweep at 11:27am. He was one of 9 ‘other ranks’ that died that week. This FAB was in action dur­ing these weeks of Octo­ber 1917 dur­ing the Third Battle of Ypres.

Bur­ied at Huts Cemetery, Dick­e­busch (Dikke­bus), Bel­gium. (Divi­sional Diary of that Month); Plot 10, Row B, Grave 6.

Father was Albert Lock, sta­tion­mas­ter at Bridge­wa­ter, South Aus­tralia. Mother Mary Jessie Ann Lock. Sis­ter, Sis­ter Majorie Ellen Lock. Lock was a Clerk in the Rail­ways for Eyre Pen­in­sula; as prior to and after WW1, a rail­way was pushed from Port Lin­coln up through the centre of Eyre Pen­in­sula. Hav­ing entered the Artil­lery, he was poten­tially mathematical/surveyer. It is pos­sible the town of Lock was one of many named by the SA Rail­ways of KIA from WW1.

Lock is the lar­ger town I grew up near, and went to school in. I remem­ber the town memorial hall hav­ing a board con­tain­ing the men who served, and died, in WW1 from the area. And dusty pho­tos in the ante-rooms noone entered (except us kids) Then men deserved more than dusty pictures.

Pilot Officer, Don­ald Wil­liam Mason. Born in Wagga, Lived in Orange, for the dur­a­tion of the war, his fam­ily lived in Bathurst.
Research: Google Search Data

http://cas.awm.gov.au/photograph/P01899.002
MASON, Don­ald Wil­liam — (Pilot Officer); Ser­vice Num­ber — AUS 413220
Born 28^th Septem­ber 1918, Hairdresser and pastry chef; Mar­ried to Ann in 1938 and Daugh­ter xxx 1940 (liv­ing in Bathurst, wife and father in law at same address in Bathurst, 61 Kep­pel Street)
Map Loc­a­tion
Enlis­ted 16 August 1941
Not admit­ted for sick­ness, no drunke­ness, AWOL. Lis­ted as VG (very good)
DH82, Wir­raway; Qual­i­fied at Pilot 25^th June 1942
Arrived in the UK 18^th Novem­ber 1942
27 July 1943, Oper­a­tional 195 Sqdn, Change to 8^th Feb­ru­ary 1944 198 Sqdn (both Hawker Typhoons)
Typhoons: power­ful, yet large (7 tonnes); lots of arm­a­ment and rock­ets (ground attack)

based at Thor­ney Island, UK (just to the east of Ports­mouth, UK)

Map Loc­a­tion
http://www.198squadronraf.co.uk/ (RAAF, RCAF and FF in the RAF unit)
22^nd March 1944, Com­mis­sioned at a Pilot Officer
More than 100 sorties, includ­ing many prior to D-Day (6^th June 1944)

18^th June 1944, lis­ted as miss­ing. Thury-Harcourt, France
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thury-Harcourt
Map Loc­a­tion

Shot down by Flak whilst attack­ing enemy trans­port
http://www.198squadronraf.co.uk/198sqdn_047.htm
Farmer had thought pilot had killed his father

Plane, and P/O Mason not found until 1992; remembered at Arro­manches (49 years later)

Map Loc­a­tion
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=45563 (Boulon)
Hodge trip to Nor­mandy; Band of Broth­ers, Liam and I had a per­sonal interest
Our guide from http://Battlebus.fr/ , Geert, took us Musee de Embark­ment in Arro­manches
He had worked at the museum, and knew the Head Cur­ator. Stat­ing we were from Aus­tralia, she took us to the dis­play of an RAAF uni­form. Of a “Don Mason”

http://www.nickhodge.com/blog/archives/1304

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/217/464787540_7158ffd8ce_b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/187/464795971_7bf3cdd5da_b.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/232/464787288_c18431cb06.jpg

Struck me: lone Aus­tralian in a sea of Cana­dian, French, Brit­ish, Amer­ican memor­ies; lost in France, with a wife and 2 year old at home.

Private Wil­liam Her­bett Roberts

Private Wil­liam Her­bett Roberts, South Aus­tralian Serial 5693; B-Company, 27^th Bat­talion, 7^th Bri­gade, 2^nd Division

Enlis­ted, 30÷1÷1916 (aged 18). Noted as a stock­man, from Sheringa, South Aus­tralia (less than 20km from where I lived as a kid on a farm). The area is noted for sheep sta­tions. And not much else

Whilst in Adelaide bar­racks, as a stock­man and young; he was in the Base Light Horse for the months in the Army

9÷12÷1916 27^th Bttn in the field, near Flers on the Somme

The 27^th Bat­talion took part in two attacks to the east of Flers in the Somme Val­ley, both of which floundered in the mud. (the Maze, Novem­ber 1916)

(Winter 1916/7 worst time in the field, cold­est in Europe for 40 years, much trench­foot, PUO; pyr­exia of unknown origin )

14÷1÷1917 Trench­foot , 19÷1÷1917 To England

March 1917 to 70^th Bttn CMF (hold­ing Bttn) until Sept/Oct; 27^th was “off the line” for most part of 1917

11/10/1917 to France, Third Battle of Ypres; at the end of the campaign

20/10/1917, just after Anzac Ridge, Above Ypres; removed back to Rail­way Wood, then Steenyorde
Inter­est­ing note from Octo­ber 13^th : “Court of Inquiry held re Cap­tain Hosking’s Horse lost a Ypres. Also re. miss­ing men.” The horse inq las­ted to next day; Roberts was one of “70 other ranks” join­ing the 27Btn from the 70Btn [BCoy, 15^th rein­force­ments, 27th Btn]

Ypres

On/off the line / trenches

Con­nect­ing the dots: Roberts (Anzac Ridge, Smiths Road between West­hoek and Zon­nebeke), Lock (Behind Anzac Ridge, Smiths Road between West­hoek and Zon­nebeke) and Hodge (Menenstaat)

27/10/1917 West­hoek Ridge, Albert Redoubt to relieve 59^th Btn
29/10/1917 Chlor­ine and Mus­tard gas shelling, Patrol engage­ment around Celtic Wood
2÷11÷1917 Off the line, relieved by 20^th Btn
1÷12÷1917 still off the line, Neue Eglise (diary notes v.cold)

15/12/1917 Ploeg­steert , relieve 39^th Btn; BCoy on right sec­tor
20/12/1917 Phos­gene Gas (rab­bit erad­ic­a­tion in 1970s)
24/12/1917 35^th Btn Relieved 27^th, Late Decem­ber, many detach­ments of work­ing parties to the front

2÷1÷1918 returned to Ploeg­steert
9÷1÷1918 25^th Btn relived the 27 Btn

27÷1÷1918 Locre, then Bell­brune
Feb 1918 off the line, Hen­nevaux area train­ing
March 1918 7^th Bgd releive 9^th Bgd at Kortepyp; quiet zone

[21 March 1918, Oper­a­tion Michael, Ger­man counter-attack]

April 1918 Albert Area on 9^th (strength = 600 Officers and Ranks) ; more act­ive area of the line

29÷4÷1918 7 Bgde relieved by 55^th Eng­lish Bdge
May 1918 Ami­ens area, train­ing
19÷5÷1918 in reserve for 6 Bgd in Ancre, relieved by 26^th Btn 26÷5÷1918

5÷6÷1918 Sailley-le-Sec
10÷6÷1918 attack
26÷6÷1918 pulled back to Allon­ville
27÷6÷1918 Villers-Bretonneaux ; in sup­port for 11 Bgd
15÷7÷1918 Addressed by Lt Gen Sir John Mon­ash
19÷7÷1918 relieved 23 Btn
25÷7÷1918 Tron­ville Wood
31÷7÷1918 788 Other Ranks in the Battalion

1÷8÷1918 White Chat­eau
8÷8÷1918 attack to the green line // First Battle of Ami­ens , biggest advance in allied move­ment and ground in WW1, “Black­est Day for Ger­many in WW1” // On 8 August, the bat­talion cap­tured 9 artil­lery pieces, 25 machine guns and over 200 pris­on­ers. // 7^th Div first attack on first day.

9÷8÷1918 4.30pm attack, with Tanks, jump­ing off point Harbonieres/Framerville area; fin­ished 5.20pm (a mere 50 minutes) (Rainecourt)
9 hos­pit­al­ised wounded in this oper­a­tion (127 wounded, 28 killed) Second day of First Amiens

9÷8÷1918 Oper­a­tion for removal of FB [for­eign body] in France 14 days, prior to Eng­land, 2 months recov­ery. One wound below, and slightly anterior to the left great trochanter http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_trochanter (rear, high on femur, just below but­tocks); graz­ing wound across 2 but­tocks. Feet OK (spent time in hos­pital with trench foot)

To Aus­tralia 3÷1÷1919
Dis­charged 23÷3÷1919, lis­ted with no last­ing disability

Died, Port Lin­coln in 1988 in his nineties.

Bill Roberts is my paternal Grandmother’s father. That is, my Great-Grandfather. If he had not returned, I would not be here. When he was 80 years old, I along with my par­ents vis­ited him in his large bun­ga­low on a hill, sur­roun­ded by a large garden, in Port Lin­coln . I recall see­ing a pic­ture of him in uni­form on the wall. I remem­ber the sounds of the clocks, the age of the kit­chen and his calmness.
Until I researched the above from the Archives, and the unit his­tory: I had no idea what he exper­i­enced. 1916 hellish winter; Third Ypres and First Amien.

I will end the show with quo­ta­tion from Charles E. W. Bean, from ‘Let­ters from France ’ (from Pozieres)

Stead­fast until death — just the men that Aus­trali­ans at home know them to be. Into the place with a joke; a dry, cyn­ical Aus­tralian joke as often as not, hold­ing fast through any­thing that man can ima­gine. They’re not her­oes. They do not intend to be thought or spoken of as her­oes. They’re just ordin­ary Aus­trali­ans, doing their par­tic­u­lar work as their coun­try would wish them to do it. And pray God, Aus­trali­ans in days to come will be worthy of them.