Private James Thomas Roy Easton of Kensington

A shipping clerk from Bellair Street, Kensington, Roy Easton joined the AIF in July 1915, not long after the landing at Gallipoli.  He embarked with the 14 Infantry Battalion, and died of wounds after a trench raid in 1916.  Rod Martin tells his story here.

Pte John Dalglish, 21 Inf Bn

 

Soldiers of the 21 Inf Bn searching the village of Hamel for 

survivors, July 1918 (Australian War Memorial Collection E02666)

Private John Dalglish arrived in France in February 1917 to reinforce the 21 Infantry Battalion, AIF, and from that time forward, apart from periods in hospital or on leave, was involved in very heavy fighting.  In July the Australian took the village of Hamel (or what survived of it) from the Germans in ninety-three minutes.  Rod Martin tells of this and other battles which Dalglish survived, only to succumb to broncho-pneumonian in December 1918, not long after the Armistice.  Read his story here.

Sergeant Leo James Harty, MM

 

Sergeant Leo James Harty of  Normanby Street, Moonee Ponds, survived the landing at Gallipoli and the battle of Lone Pine, but was probably killed in the bombardment at Messines in 1916.  Rod Martin tells his story here.   The photograph, by John Philpott, shows the Berks Cemetery Extension where Leo was buried. 

Did this officer win a Military Cross for eating?

Company Sergeant Major (later Lieutenant) Rothwell Gordon's friends in Essendon thought his prodigious eating capacity may have scored him a "tin cross".


 You can read Marjorie Conning's story about her uncle here.



 

We saw it in the papers

But we don’t quite believe all they say

That Roth had been up to some capers

Had won a tin cross by the way

Tho' his fame we’ve no wish for defeating

There’s something we’d just like to know

Did he get that there medal for eating?

In that line he wasn’t too slow

 

Private Bert Harvey and the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial

When Bert Harvey of Ascot Vale went missing during the battle of Pozieres, no trace was found of his body.    His name, along with 11,000 other Australians with  no known graves, is recorded on the Australian Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux.  The above view is taken by Greg Manderson from the Memorial tower.  Greg is a relative of Bert's.

Read Rod Martin's account of Bert's last days near Moquet Farm here, illustrated with several of Greg Manderson's photos.

Private John Aldred - Conduct Prejudicial

Serapeum, Egypt, circa 7 Apr 1916.  Punt crossing the Suez. 

Australian War Memorial Collection.

An innocuous incident in which a soldier, fed up with the heavy work pulling a punt across the Suez at Serapeum, and under the influence of some alcohol, swore at his corporal, was overheard by an officer who sent for the MPs to arrest him.  The soldier expressed his contempt for "star men", and offered to fight him.  This led to the court martial of the soldier, and his return to Australia under a 12 months sentence with hard labour.  Still only 22 when released from prison, he tried to put his life back together.  The question of whether he succeeded is still open.  Read his story here.

Pte George Joseph O'Neill, awarded Croix de Guerre

George O'Neill enlisted in the 4th Field Ambulance Corps, and served from 1915 until the end of the war in Lemnos, dealing with the Gallipoli wounded, and later in France and Belgium.  While the citation for his Croix de Guerre has not yet come to light, Rod Martin describes the arduous and heroic service of a stretcher bearer in the front lines here.