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.

Survived the War - Harry O'Neill

Private Henry Francis O'Neill landed at Gallipoli with the 7th Infantry Battalion on 25 April 1915.  On the last day of the war, Lieutenant O'Neill was still with his Battalion, having survived the whole war and everything the Germans and the Allies could throw at him. In this picture he is standing in the doorway of 7th Battalion headquarters. Rod Martin tells his story.

Sapper Frederick Dart

Sapper Frederick Ryall Dart of Moonee Ponds developed an early interest in wireless and signals.  After completing four years of Senior Cadets with the 58A Cadets in Moonee Ponds, Dart joined the 21st Signal Troop, Citizens Military Force, which trained at South Melbourne.  When he enlisted in 1917 aged 18 he was assigned to the Wireless Training School.  The Armistice was made before he attained his 19th birthday and probable overseas embarkation.  Dart continued his interest in the military after he war, and a copy of his eventual discharge certificate in 1921 can be seen here.

The battleground of Third Ypres, 1917

Gunner Gordon Doig, working with the Australian Field Artillery on the Menin Road fell victim to German shelling of his gunpit.  Rod Martin tells his story.