George Young's War

Pozieres, pulverised by shelling, where George Young suffered shell shock.  AWM A05776

George Henry Young suffered a bit of a battering in the war.  He was wounded in the foot at the Dardanelles, being invalided to Malta and later England.  In 1916 in France he was hospitalised with shell shock, and again invalided to England.  During his lengthy periods in convalescence, he managed to marry a young English woman, and when repatriated in 1919, they had a baby with them.

When he returned to France he suffered shell shock after the terrible shelling of Pozieres, where his Battalion had been posted.

Rod Martin tells the story of George Young's war. 

State school teacher wounded at Gallipoli

 
         Private Thomas Keddie, State school teacher at San Remo.

Thomas Keddie, a State school teacher, enlisted in the AIF at the first opportunity in August 1915.  Like many men of his educational attainments he was made up to a Sergeant at an early stage in his training, but was reduced in rank in February 1915 to Private.  His service record does not specify why that occurred, though it is possible he requested the change himself.    He may have taken part in the defence of the Suez Canal when it was attacked by the Turks, but that remains another mystery.

On 25 April 1915 Thomas landed at Anzac Cove with his 8 Battalion comrades.   Later in the day he was shot in the leg and evacuated.  It meant the end of the war for Private Keddie, and he returned to teaching in Victoria.  His presence in the Ascot Vale State School "Book of Noble Deeds" suggests he taught there for a period.

You can see Rod Martin's account of Thomas Keddie's part in the Great War here.

Private Yeats and the attack at Polygon Wood

 
Somme mud, 1916 (AWM P905380.002)

Private William Yeats arrived in France in January 1917 in time to enjoy the worst winter in 40 years.  A slight increase in temperatures preceded a thaw that changed conditions to a muddy quagmire.  Rod Martin takes up the tale of  young William Yeats, iron moulder of Flemington, who struggled through the appalling conditions in France until struck by shelling at Polygon Wood, his death bringing grief to yet another Flemington home.  See his detailed story on the Empire Called website.

William Yeats' memorial at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery.

A Dashing Australian Officer - John Mott

Captain John Eldred Mott MC and Bar (later Lieutenant Colonel), the first Australian officer to escape from captivity in Germany, taken the morning after he reached Holland. Captain Mott is wearing the clothes in which he escaped. The fence in the background is the dividing line between freedom and captivity.  AWM A03035.

John Mott was working in mines in Western Australia when he joined the AIF in 1915, aged 38.  A well-known family in the Essendon area, John was one of four brothers to enlist.  He was quite a dashing officer, and was celebrated as the first Australian officer to successfully escape as a Prisoner of War.

Rod Martin tells the story of his remarkable service, from two awards of the Military Cross, an escape across Germany, meeting the King at Buckingham Palace, and post war work with the Australian Field Graves Battalion, of which he was given command as a Lieutenant Colonel.  Read about this dashing Australian officer.  

Private Arthur Jabons Lane, no known grave

The Australian War Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux

 

The Australian War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in the Somme departement in France contains the names of 10,773 men who died but who have no known grave. 

Rod Martin tells the story of one of those men.   Arthur Lane enlisted in Sydney, but his family lived in Wonalta Terrace, Mt Alexander Rd, Flemington. Arthur's younger brother James Lane was also killed in action in October 1917.  

Arthur served with the 54 Infantry Battalion, a Sydney battalion.   He probably arrived in France in time to have Christmas Dinner with other reinforcements, and was taken on strength of his battalion on 1 January 1917, then located at Buire in Picardie, just south of the Belgian border.

Arthur was killed in action just 5 months later.  Read Rod Martin's account of Arthur's part in the war.

The Disaster at The Nek

Tpr Robert Kerr, courtesy of Kim Phillips,

Spirits of  Gallipoli website

An early recruit to the AIF in 1914, Robert Kerr, a commercial traveller of Brewster St, Essendon was assigned to 8 Light Horse Regiment.  When the campaign opened at Gallipoli, it was quickly apparent by the terrain and the danger from Turkish bombs that horses could not be used, and they were left behind in Egypt.  The Light Horsemen became Infantrymen.

The British generals were keen to break through the stalemate on Gallipoli and created an elaborate plan of feints, diversions and charges in August 1915.   The 8 LHR part in the plan involved a bayonet charge at The Nek against Turkish machine guns.   Of course it would work!

Rod Martin takes us through the plan, and explains why it didn't work.  The stupidity of the British Officer Class might have had a bit to do with that. (My interpretation, but I think Rod would agree.)

Robert Kerr was a part of the charge which was seen to be so stupid that some of the men were said to have left their guns behind, and went bravely to their deaths.   Read Rod's story about Trooper Robert Kerr.  

Thirsty Work Crossing the Sinai - Trooper J E Quinlan of Shuter Street

 

Members of 3 Light Horse Machine Gun Squadron, Palestine, 1917.  AWM P039631.087

James Quinlan was a 19 year old labourer of 29 Shuter St, Moonee Ponds when he enlisted in January 1916.  By June James had arrived in Egypt and was assigned to the 3 Light Horse Machine Gun Squadron.  He spent the rest of the war in the Middle East with the Mounted Division under Major-General Harry Chauvel.

Rod Martin carefully traces the course of James Quinlan's war, the task of the mounted division being to drive the Turks out of Sinai then into Palestine, the ultimate goal being Turkish headquarters in Damascus, Syria.

The Middle Eastern campaign was a hard one, with one of the worst hardships being the shortage of water.  One 3 Light Horse Brigade man later commented :

I can honestly say that, except on special occasions, I was thirsty for the whole nine months we were crossing the Sinai.  

If you had a relative in the Middle Eastern campaign, Rod Martin gives an excellent insight into that campaign with the experiences of James Quinlan and the 3 Light Horse Brigade.

Trooper James E Quinlan

2nd Aircraft Mechanic Harry Nelson and the widow's fight

Four Australian air mechanics enjoying lunch at Halefield, June 1918   (AWM P10218.009)

Harry Nelson, fruiterer and cyclist of McConnell St, Kensington, enlisted in October 1917, and embarked in May 1918.  In 1917, between his enlistment and embarkation, Harry married. Harry and his bride, Florence, evidently anticipated their vows, as their son was six weeks old when Harry left the country.

Arriving in England in mid-1918, Harry was a sitting duck for the influenza sweeping though military encampments.  Harry died of illness on 22 October 1918, barely three weeks before the Armistice.  

In his new story, Rod Martin describes the difficulties Florence had getting souvenirs and assets to which she was entitled.  It is not certain if she ever did as Harry's family and lawyer set out to thwart her.  See the full story, so far as we know it, here.

Jim Raff, machine gunner of Kensington

Machine gunners in training at Seymour, 1916.  AWM P08299.002.

Albert James (Jim) Raff, a cabinetmaker or 79 Market St, Kensington, enlisted in the Australian Army on 18 July 1916.  Jim trained to be a machine gunner, and his crew became familiar with the Vickers medium mounted machine gun.  It was mounted on a tripod and weighed 40 kilos.  It was served by a crew of three. Because of its weight it could not be carried as part of an attacking formation.  These weapons were dug into a 'nest', and became prime targets for the enemy seeking to destroy them.  It was a very dangerous role.

Rod Martin explains the role of Jim's crew, the 10th Machine Gun Company, and later the 22nd MGC, in  battles in  France and Belgium.  You can read Jim's full story here. 

The Aftermath of Lone Pine - Private Leslie Oakley

Hospital Ship Neuralia 1915    (IWM ART 4405)

After the Battle at Lone Pine, Private Leslie Oakley of Kensington was put on board Hospital Ship Neuralia and taken to Malta.   Rod Martin examines Leslie's records, and relates the story of his war service and subsequent history after discharge. You can see the full story here.

Flying Officer William Edward Bruce Neilson

After last month's story about James Charles Outhred, who was a fellow member of No 3 Squadron,  AFC, Rod Martin tells the story of William Edward Bruce Neilson. While both Outhred and Neilson enlisted at much the same time, embarked on the Ulysses together, and were appointed Second Class Air Mechanics, their experience with their squadron was quite different, Outhred being channelled into Wireless training, and Neilson into mechanics, and later aerial gunnery.  By the end of the war he qualified as a pilot.     Rod Martin tells the story of Flying Officer WEB Neilson.

Neil Neilson answers the Call to Arms

State Library South Australia.   https://digital.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/nodes/view/2434 

On 15 December 1915 the Prime Minister of Australia, William Hughes, put out a Call to Arms to the young men of Australia to play their part in "this greatest war of all times".

Neil Neilson of 39 Mt Alexander Rd, Flemington, driver, answered that call.  He was a fairly slight figure, one of eleven children, but he responded to Hughes' appeal and enlisted on 4 January 1916, just a few weeks after the appeal was made.

Rod Martin tells the story of a fairly troublesome  young man who managed to overcome his difficulties with the army and became a reliable member of 15 Battery, 5 Field Artillery Brigade as Gunner Neil Robert Neilson.   Neilson died after a gas attack, on 8 June 1918.

Bill Elliot - one of the "Essendon boys"

There was a group of soldiers in the 7th Infantry Battalion which Colonel H E (Pompey) Elliott used to refer to as his "Essendon Boys".  He knew them from their time with the 58 Infantry (Essendon Rifles), of which he was Commanding Officer before the war.  He took a special interest in their careers, and was saddened by the loss of so many of them on the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Bill Elliot, Ellis Stones and Ken Walker, who knew each other well back in Essendon, were known as the Three Musketeers.  Bill Elliot was living with the Stones family when he enlisted in August 1914.  Of the Three Musketeers, only Ellis Stones survived the assault on Gallipoli.  Bill Elliot fell on 25 April 1915.

Rod Martin now gives us the story of  William Walker Highton (Bill) Elliot,  one of the 'Essendon boys'.

Lest we forget any of the local boys who went away and never came home.

Rod makes a century!

A game of cricket was played on Shell Green in an attempt to distract the Turks from the imminent departure of allied troops, December 1915.  AWM G01289.

In August 2010, when my website The Empire Called and I Answered, was about 12 months old, I was contacted by Rod Martin who wondered if I would be interested in a photo of a gravestone he had taken at Walhalla?  The stone commemorated John Eddy Phillips, beloved husband of Margaret,  who had died in July 1899. The stone also commemorated their son, another John Eddy Phillips, who had been killed at Gallipoli on 8 August 1915, aged 29 years. Rod wondered if I would be interested in a copy of the photo for my website?  Yes, absolutely.  The photo duly arrived and was added to the website.

A few weeks passed, then Rod contacted me again and asked me if I would be interested if he wrote a story for my website about John Eddy Phillips?    Absolutely yes, again. 

Since that time, Rod Martin has written 100 stories for the Empire Called website, a not inconsiderable feat.  Truthfully, the number is 102, (though I will report back if Rod corrects me on this number) because I was distracted before Christmas last year and, not for the first time, dropped the ball.  But as I had planned to acknowledge and celebrate Rod's contribution to the website when he got to his century, I press on to give him my grateful thanks, and merely note his unobtrusive start towards his second century. Rod has reached his first century with an impressive average of  11 stories per year.

Rod likes to explain the context of the the situations in which each of his subjects found themselves. His most recent story is about Herbert Keam, who landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, but remains missing, assumed to have been killed in action on or about 26 April 1915.


If you visit Keam's website, you will see a tag to the right of the page for Rod Martin.  Click on that and you will get the full list of Rod's stories.  Some of my favourites include Major James Frederick Bowtell-Harris, Sergeant Robert Curwen, 2nd Lieutenant Viv Garner, Pte George Joseph O'Neill - though truthfully I enjoy all of them.  Rod also carefully winkles out great images from the AWM collection to illustrate the stories, which greatly enhances our understanding of the hardships of the war. A lot of the stories feature the men of the 7th Infantry Battalion which was closely associated with the Essendon and Flemington district, commanded in the early years by Colonel Pompey Elliott.

So once again I say a grateful thank you to Rod for his marvellous treasury of stories of the Great War, and hope that he will continue for many more to come!

Pte Herbert Keam - Missing in Action

Private Herbert Millest Keam landed at Gallipoli with the 7th Battalion on 25 April 1915, but by the following day he was missing.  He was never found.  Rod Martin tells the poignant story of the inquiries made to try and establish what had become of this young man, his mother's only child.

He was only 19. Private Laurie James

Troops on board HMAT Hororata at Port Melbourne, 17 April 1915, AWM PB0448.

Laurie James, a bricklayer from Ascot Vale, was 19 years old when he swung out of the front gate of his family's tiny weatherboard home in Walter St, Ascot Vale and headed into Melbourne to enlist in the AIF.  It was January 1915.

The Hororata had left with the first contingent of troops in October the previous October, but had returned in time to embark a fresh lot of troops, including Laurie James, in April 1915.  The first troops had not yet scaled the heights of Gallipoli on the day Laurie left Melbourne on 17 April. By July that year Laurie was landed at Anzac Cove.  From that time forward Laurie was almost continuously engaged in warfare. For years it seemed he led a charmed life, but it all came to an end in an offensive against the Germans in August 1918.  As Rod Martin put it, 

"He had come so close to the end of the war, successfully fighting at Gallipoli, Pozières, Mouquet Farm and Passchendaele, only to fall less than three months before the Great War came to  a close."

Laurie served with the renowned local Battalion, the 7th Battalion, and in his story about Laurie, Rod Martin traces the dogged steps of the 7th Battalion as they ground their way towards an Allied Victory.  You can read Laurie's full story here.

Sergeant George of the Railways Unit

British light rail engine, as used on the Western Front      (AWM H01948)

In late 1916, at the request of the British government, Australia advertised for experienced men to join a new railway operations division.  By the end of January 1917, the Victorian section was filled by ‘a very fine body of men’ from the Victorian Railways. Among these  was thirty-two-year-old engine driver, Alfred George of 37 Hardiman Street, Kensington.

Rod Martin describes the experiences of Sergeant Alfred Thomas George in Number 2 Section, Australian Railways Operations Division.  

Peter Stanley in his book Bad Characters, talked of the AIF being civilians in uniform:  

"In broad terms the AIF resembled the factories, workshops or shearing sheds that many of its members had known in civilian life.  Privates were the workers; non-commissioned officers (NCOs) were foremen, gangers or overseers; officers were the proprietors, managers or supervisors.  Soldiers saw them in these terms....  Australian soldiers often applied their civilian principles to their military experience."  (p37)

 This applied particularly to the trades unionists among them, and the railway soldiers were probably among the most heavily unionised soldiers of the AIF.   This becomes apparent in Rod's story telling of the reactions of the Number 2 Railway Unit when faced with unacceptable directions from their officers.

Sergeant E R Fairlie, killed at Cape Helles

An image of Ernest Fairlie in his pre-war Militia uniform, The Australasian, 17 July 1915.

Of those local soldiers who survived the landing at Gallipoli, some went on to lose their lives in a wasteful battle to take Krithia, at Cape Helles.  Schoolteacher Ernest Robert Fairlie, 5th Battalion
was one of those.   Rod Martin explains in a clear way what happened and why.  How Fairlie died remains a mystery, with no one left who could tell. Ernest Fairlie taught at  Essendon High School, and his name is on the Honour Board of the school, as well as the Essendon Town Hall (shown as E H Fairlie).   Read his story here.

Gunner Eddy of the 114 Howitzer Battery

114 Battery column, drawn by mules, France, 13 October 1918. AWM E03563

Munitions worker Joe Eddy joined the AIF near the 2nd anniversary of the landings at Gallipoli.  The Eddy family lived in Charles St, Ascot Vale, which was a convenient location for him to walk to work in Maribyrnong each day.  His father, Walter Lawrence Eddy had been an Essendon Councillor for nine years, serving as Mayor during that period, but had resigned in August 1914 on the cusp of the war. 

Munitions workers needed permission to enlist in the AIF and this might have been the reason Joe did not join until the end of April 1917 when the need for more men was very pressing.  He embarked with the 4th Light Horse Regiment, but after arriving in England he was transferred to the 14 Field Artillery Brigade, and within that served with the 114 Howitzer Battery. 


At least two other local men served in the 114 Howitzer Battery - Corporal William Hodgens of Ascot Vale Rd, Flemington and Corporal Alan Stanley Rankine of 110 McConnell St, Kensington.

 Rod Martin employs his considerable writing skills to explore Gunner Eddy's experiences with the 114 Howitzer Battery on the Western Front in Belgium and France, which you can read here.

Edmond Danaher, tinsmith of Newmarket

Reconstruction of a ‘Gallipoli boat’, Melbourne Shrine of Remembrance   (Rod Martin)

The above reconstruction of a boat used to ferry the soldiers from troop transports to the shore of Gallipoli clearly illustrates how exposed the soldiers were when Turkish troops opened fire on them.  In his new story about Edmond Danaher, Road Martin tells the story of a young man who went to war and never came home.