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. 

"This is my last goodbye to you...."

In December 1915 as 2nd Lieutenant Cecil Beaumont Mills steamed away from Australia and all he held dear, he prepared a letter for his wife Effie (or Fairy as he called her), to be handed to her three  months after his death was reported.  Effie received this loving letter after Cecil fell, and disappeared forever, at Pozieres in August 1916.

Letters written by Cecil to his wife Effie, and other memorabilia, were donated to the Australian War Memorial by their only child, John Mills.  They have lately been digitised and can be seen on the AWM website here. This letter starts at page 16.

Originally from NSW, Cecil was a bank manager with the ES&A Bank in Mt Alexander Rd, Ascot Vale when he enlisted.  He and his wife were living at "Gowrie", Ardmillan Rd, Moonee Ponds with a Mrs Wragge when Cecil enlisted and went to Broadmeadows camp for training.  Their little boy was only a few months old, when Cecil felt compelled to do what he considered 'a man's work' in the great trial of war.

Although the Mills had probably not been in Moonee Ponds for more than a couple of years, Cecil had begun to immerse himself in the local community, and was recorded on several honour boards in the district, as well as his school, the Glenbrook Public School in NSW.  These honour boards are listed on Cecil's webpage at The Empire Called here.

The young Sergeant Young

Sergeant Alfred Thomas Young, courtesy of Liz Clarke.

Alfred Thomas Young, born in Moonee Ponds, was the son of a well-known local businessman and Essendon Councillor, A E Young. Aged 21, he was with the first volunteers who enlisted at the first Essendon Rifles Drill Hall.  He embarked as a Corporal with the first convoy of troops, and landed at Gallipoli on 25 April in the second wave of boats with the 7th Infantry Battalion.  Five days later he was promoted to Sergeant.

A severe wound to his arm took him off Gallipoli initially to Malta and later to England recover.  He rejoined his battalion in May 1916.  Rod Martin, in another well-told account goes on to describe what happened to Sergeant Young and the 7th Battalion as they became approached Pozieres.  You can read that account here.

More on the Williams Brothers' Album

I have lately been given access to a small collection of photos owned by 4755 Private Patrick Heneberry O'Callaghan of the 12th Field Ambulance, with captions. Several of these were also found in the Williams Brothers Album which I loaded onto the Empire Called website some time ago.  Amongst the duplicated photos was this one:

The caption from Pte O'Callaghan reads:

"12 Field Ambulance Stretcher bearers carrying through Poziere wood, the one at the back was killed later carrying with me, we had only just changed ends.  Better born lucky than rich in France."

Trawling through the AWM collection for photos relating to the 12th Field Ambulance, I found the above photo, of which I have a different copy on the Empire Called website.  The AWM description reads in part: 

3219 Corporal George Lloyd MM (right) and two other unidentified stretcher bearers, one believed to be 3373 Private (Pte) Norman Henry Sadler MM (position unknown), of the 12th Field Ambulance carrying a wounded man.

It was recorded in 3373 Norman Henry Sadler's B2455 record that he had been killed on 28 August 1916. Reference to the Australian Red Cross Correspondence turned up a report of Sadler's death, and included a statement from Patrick O'Callaghan, confirming the caption on the photo:

12 Field Ambulance AIF
SADLER 3375 N E

Killed 20-8-16

Witness states that he was with Sadler when the latter was killed.  They were carrying a stretcher with patient on it.  A few yards before casualty happened, they changed ends.  States that a shell burst in front of them when crossing a sap about 100 yards from Pozieres Cemetery.  Piece of shell went through Sadler's helmet in front and came out at back of head.  He was unconscious.  Took him back to dressing station, where he died.  Did not regain consciousness.  Next morning SADLER was buried by witness and others at Casualty Coral by Protestant Minister.  There is a cross on grave with his name and name of unit on it.
Cert:  by: - O'Callaghan, P A 4755, 12 FA
3rd Aux Austr Hosp, Dartford.

Corporal George Lloyd 3219 was in charge of a party of four, which included O'Callaghan, Charlie Watson and Norman Sadler.

Lloyd's description of having dark complexion, brown eyes and dark hair accords with the AWM caption that George Lloyd is the man on the right.  Sadler's description recorded fair complexion, blue eyes and light brown hair. 

This helps greatly with dating and placing some of the photos, and identifying a couple more of the faces.

Pte Cyril Iles, lost at Pozieres, 1916

When General Gough congratulated the men of the 2nd Australian Division, saying they had  'inflicted a severe defeat on the enemy and secured us most valuable ground,' he wasn't thinking of the 6,846 casualties which were the cost.  The victory was severe on the 23 Infantry Battalion which had  participated in the battle.  Cyril Iles, a law clerk of Windsor was just one of the men who disappeared in the bombardment, never to be seen again.  His name was recorded on the Kensington Methodist Church Roll of Honour, and also included in the Essendon Gazette Roll of Honour.  There seems to be no obvious connection to the local area, but he was perhaps boarding locally and gave his parents' names on his attestation form.   

Rod Martin tells Cyril Iles' story, which you can read here.

Williams Bros Album

“Back from the line unwashed, unshaved.  The brothers Williams, both as fit as fiddles, France 8/5/17”. 

It has taken a while to load up the photos from the album of Gordon and Harold Williams, but they are finally on the website, and you can scroll through the photos, commencing from here.  The album covers the embarkation and journey to the Middle East of Gordon with 6 Field Ambulance, and a later period with 12 Field Ambulance in Belgium and France, where Gordon's brother Harold joined him in 1916.  The photos were scanned courtesy of Robin Benjamin.