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2. unrest and war

The Voice of New
South Wales Serving
and Ex-Service Men
and Women
Th e pric e o f li b e r t y
is e t e rnal vi g ilanc e
Sacrifice
100 Years Past
A commemoration of Gallipoli
“Lest We Forget”
VoL 88 No 2 MARCH-APRIL 2015
Subscription $5.50
PP243459/900095
MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR
8 REVEILLE
MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR
100 years past
A special Reveille commemoration
The Importance of the Centenary of ANZAC
His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d) Governor of New South Wales.
The Centenary of ANZAC may be
summed up in the three human values
embodied in the ANZAC Memorial
in Sydney’s Hyde Park – Courage,
Endurance and Sacrifice.
Indeed, the architect, Mr Dellit, stated
that his Memorial design was:
“intended to express with dignity and
simplicity neither the glory nor the
glamour of war, but those nobler attributes
of human nature which the great tragedy
of nations so vividly brought forth –
Courage, Endurance, and Sacrifice.”
Above the striking tableau of Sacrifice
in the Hall of Silence is the soaring dome
with 120,000 golden stars, purchased by
members of the public, representing every
man and woman from New South Wales
who enlisted for service in the First
World War.
The importance of the Centenary of
ANZAC to our nation is that it gives us
an opportunity to reflect on those many
hundreds of thousands of lives lost during
the First World War – and all wars.
Out of this tragic conflict, a legacy –
the ANZAC legend of courage, mateship,
volunteering, sacrifice and service –
was born.
This legacy, of how we view ourselves,
has held a powerful sway over our
development as a nation for the past one
hundred years.
I have no doubt that the next four years
will be a time of reflection and discussion
about the ANZAC legacy – reality and
legend – and of how it has shaped our
notion of self and our concept of being
Australian.
This is natural, healthy and appropriate
during this period. A better understanding
of our past will help us shape our future.
But important questions for me are:
Can we achieve more than this?
What legacy can we create from this
period of commemoration to leave future
generations of Australians?
The outcome of the next four years must
be more than plaques and monuments,
important as they are.
Over the next 4 years, I encourage you to
consider what the ANZAC legacy signifies
for Australia in the 21st century.
We are a land of many people, from
many cultures, traditions and beliefs.
Our ANZAC legacy continues to
underpin our nation. It is part of our
history as a nation and connects us with
our past.
However, it needs to speak to all our
people, many of whom did not grow up,
as I did, listening to the stories of the
ANZACs.
Our commemoration needs to continue
to evolve, to give us all an identity and a
purpose for the future.
By embracing our values of respect for
cultural diversity and inclusiveness as a
nation, we will honour the legacy of those
men and women who fought for a better
world, not just for the end of conflict.
As we enter our four-year period of
commemoration, let us reflect on how we
may keep the spirit of our remembrance
alive, meaningful and inclusive for our
diverse, contemporary nation and for the
generations to come.
REVEILLE 9
HISTORY
“Never Again”
remains the message
from Auschwitz
Josh Frydenberg MP reflects on the 70th anniversary of the
death camp’s liberation
In the dark, in the cold and in the snow,
leaders from about 50 nations made
the long walk along the railway line at
Auschwitz-Birkenau. Their end point
was a monument where they lit a candle
in memory of the surrounding dead.
It was here, among the watchtowers
and the crematoriums, that 70 years ago
to the day the forces of good triumphed
over evil, and the most efficient and
brutal killing machine the world had seen
was brought to an end.
But not before more than 10 million
people lost their lives, six million of whom
were Jews, including 1.5 million children.
It was genocide on an industrial scale, now
known simply as the Holocaust.
At Auschwitz the death toll was more
than one million, 90 per cent of whom
were Jewish – homosexuals, people with
a disability, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Roma
gypsies and political prisoners from
84 REVEILLE
Russia and Poland made up the rest.
What struck me most as I walked
through the camp was how clinical
and orderly the set-up had been.
There was accommodation,
workshops and the gas chambers
themselves. Having entered under the
gates that read “Arbeit macht frei”
(“work makes you free”), frightened and
unsuspecting prisoners were divided into
two groups: those who would live and
those who would die.
Prisoners deemed not fit enough to
work in slave labour were forced to
strip naked and beaten if they refused
to obey. They were then marched in
their hundreds to shower blocks where
gas canisters were dropped into the
concrete space, causing a prolonged and
excruciating death.
Today one can see fingernail markings
along the openings from where the
canisters fell, as victims spent their
last harrowing moments gasping for
air. In the room adjoining the gas
chambers is a row of large-scale ovens.
Here, Jewish inmates, known as the
Sonderkommando, were forced to collect
the bodies of their brethren, piling them
on to trolleys before shoving them into
the ovens. The chimneys burned day and
night, and the smell of human death and
flesh was all around.
It was only a matter of time before
every prisoner was destined for this fate.
But for those who were waiting, the
Nazis had other plans in mind. Our guide
pointed us to the barracks where medical
experiments were carried out. Children,
HISTORY
pregnant mothers and twins were all
specially selected by camp doctors, who
turned them into human guinea pigs at
the hands of the Third Reich.
What is more, the Nazis made a point
of collecting from every inmate anything
that could be of worth – gold fillings
from their teeth, artificial limbs, shoes
and suitcases were all collated and
stored. One of the most confronting
images anyone could ever see is a room
full of human hair, shaved from the
prisoners before they met their fate.
Used by the Nazis for pillows, this was
a graphic illustration of how the victims
were stripped of all their human dignity.
My family’s history is in many respects
no different from that of so many other
Jewish families with origins in Europe.
Two of my great grandparents and three
great aunts were killed by the Nazis
as they came off trains at Auschwitz.
My wife’s grandmother, who survived
Auschwitz, lost her parents and nine
siblings. Her grandfather, also in
Auschwitz, lost his mother and eight
siblings, all in the Nazi camps. With
this history in mind, it was with great
trepidation that I visited Auschwitz for
the first time.
But from my first step until my last
I felt empty, finding it hard to fathom
what had actually taken place. No anger,
just disbelief, as I listened for the voices
from my family’s past. Why weren’t the
Nazis stopped before it was too late?
And what are the lessons for the rest of
the world today?
This year’s 70th anniversary of the
liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau
by Soviet forces was a poignant and
significant event. More than 3000 people
gathered, not just to pay their respects to
the dead, but to say emphatically to the
world: we can’t allow this tragedy ever
to happen again.
The number of survivors attending
had dwindled to 300, all haunted by
their memories. In their speeches they
talked about the Holocaust as “a scar
on the living world” where the “past is
present.” Our duty, they told us, is not
only never to forget, but to ensure that
history never repeats.
With the tragic events of Paris still
only weeks old and a rising tide of antiSemitism sweeping across Europe, there
was a sense of urgency that resonated with
all of those who were there. The message
was clear. We have a collective duty to
look after one another, for if we don’t
there will come a day when the tables will
be turned and we will be the victim.
It must be acknowledged that Germany
has openly confronted its painful past,
conscious of its responsibility to try to
make amends. Holocaust denialism in
Germany has been banned, its leaders
have reached out to Israel and the right
things have been said. In the words of
Germany’s President Joachim Gauck,
who led the leaders’ walk along the
railway line in the snow, there is “no
German identity without Auschwitz.”
It is of some comfort to know that the
number of people visiting Auschwitz
every year continues to grow. Fifteen
years ago it was 400,000; today it is 1.5
million, 70 per cent of whom are under
the age of 25.
It must be compulsory in our schools
to learn about these events, because as
Dwight Eisenhower, then commander
of the Supreme Allied Forces, said upon
touring a concentration camp in 1945,
there will come a time when people the
world over will deny that the events of
the Holocaust ever occurred.
As the survivors remind us today, they
honour the dead by living, not crying.
We, the lucky ones who were spared the
atrocities they had to endure, honour
their memory by saying “never again.”
Josh Frydenberg, Federal Assistant
Treasurer and member for the Melbourne
seat of Kooyong, was Australia’s official
representative at the 70th anniversary of
the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on
27 January this year.
REVEILLE 85
vietnam
war wounds
Somehow I’ve always managed to escape
when veterans start telling war stories,
but this bloke was in seat 24 A and I was
stuck in 24 B without a parachute. He was
flying to Sydney “for three days on the
piss with me mates,” he told me, followed
by the ANZAC Day March if they could
still walk. Staring intently into my book
didn’t put him off and I didn’t want to say
something rude so I put the book away and
he knew he had won.
“Rod’s my name,” he said. I told him mine
and we shook hands.
His story began with recruit training
at Puckapunyal in 1968 when he was
eighteen. Before that actually, when a judge
gave him two minutes to choose between
three years in the Army and six months’
jail for “borrowing” a car to drive home to
Melbourne after a party in Geelong. To this
day he swears he was going to take it back
next day and catch a train home, but the
judge didn’t care.
After recruit training he was posted to
infantry and eventually to the Australian
Task Force Base at Nui Dat in January
1970. By his account he only remained a
private because he was far too valuable as
a fighter to be promoted. I looked at his
flabby face and beer gut and tried to picture
a fit, heavily armed young warrior in jungle
greens, his face daubed with green and
brown camouflage paint.
“I only saw action three times,” he said
and was quiet for a while. “Hard to talk
about that to anyone who wasn’t there.”
“I’m sure it is,” I said and thought but I’m
sure you will anyway.
“Worse if you get hit of course,” and he
lifted his shirt to show a scar and a hollow
at the back of his ribcage where two of his
ribs should have been.
“Was it a bullet or shrapnel?” I asked.
88 REVEILLE
“Bullet. Got one in the leg too. We had
a section caught in a bunker system,
pinned down, couldn’t even lift their heads
to shoot back. Couldn’t call in artillery
because Charlie, that’s the Viet Cong, were
only twenty metres away from our blokes.
I was ordered to give covering fire with my
machine gun so our guys could move back.
“I ran for a tree that would have given me
cover but halfway there I got hit in the leg
and did a face plant. When I tried to crawl I
got this one,” he said pointing to his ribs. “I
must have been in a bit of a hollow because
while I stayed flat they couldn’t hit me, but
I couldn’t go anywhere. I thought we were
all dead.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“The tanks came,” he said. It was dark
outside but he turned away and looked out
the window for a few seconds. “Centurion
tanks. I didn’t even know they were with
us that day and suddenly there’s two of
them charging up behind me, side by side,
ten metres apart. The Crew Commanders
were exposed outside their hatches from
the chest up, firing machine guns mounted
on top of the turrets. Sitting ducks they
were but I guess if they were down inside
they couldn’t see what was going on in
the jungle.
“Every few seconds their main guns fired.
You wouldn’t believe the impact those
bloody machines had, mate. The sheer size
of the things, the power, the ear-splitting
noise of the main guns and what they did to
a bunker when they hit. I can’t tell you how
I felt, after I’d been squirming face-down
in the mud waiting for the next bullet . .
.” His voice trailed off and he looked out
at the blackness again. I think he sneakily
wiped his eyes.
“One came straight at me and I put my
arm up and hoped to Christ the driver
or Crew Commander could see me.
They obviously did because it swerved
around me then turned ninety degrees and
stopped between me and the bunkers. I
was shielded from enemy fire but I was
too weak to move. One of my mates saw
vietnam
what was happening and ran in to get me.
Only a little bloke too but he put me over
his shoulder, picked up the gun and carried
me out. Dust-off chopper picked me up
and twenty minutes later I’m in hospital at
Vung Tau.”
After a long pause and struggling to
sound composed I said: “You didn’t just
put your arm up, mate, you were shitting
yourself, waving your bush hat all over
the place . . .”
“I thought I’d be run over!”
Then he froze for a few seconds, the
realisation too much to take in. “Did I tell
you that?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“You were there.”
“Crew Commander,” I said.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
“I just did.”
“I mean before. You let me prattle on
for half an hour and never let on you
served in Vietnam.”
“I never do. I wouldn’t have this time
except I realised who you are. That made
it different.”
He leaned back and closed his eyes for a
few seconds. “Am I right, that you turned
side-on to shield me?”
“Yes, but I couldn’t hang around. I gave
you about ten seconds then turned and kept
going. All I could find out later was that
your Platoon had five casualties so I didn’t
know if you got out or not.”
“None killed and five wounded
including me. I got out thanks to my
mate who’s a bloody hero. And to you
of course. I’ve often thought about that
tank, the crew, wondered if they got
home OK. You don’t look any the worse
for wear?”
“No, I’ve been okay. Learned to live with
the guilt and shame of fighting a war we
shouldn’t have been in, killing blokes who
were just trying to defend their country.”
“You don’t think we made a difference?”
“ Of course we did but it was all bad.
It took me years to realise that. I was a
naïve country kid, only knew what the
Army told me. But politicians here and in
America should have known. There were
so many things wrong with that bloody
war. It cost over a million dead and God
knows how many lives destroyed. And for
what? If we hadn’t interfered the North
would have overrun the South in weeks.
Same end result, hardly any casualties. We
achieved nothing.”
I could have added that forty years
ago I disembarked in Sydney and said
goodbye to some mates I would never
forget but would never see again. No
ANZAC Day marches, no reunions,
Vietnam chapter closed.
He made strong eye contact for the first
time. Angry eye contact I thought. “Why
should we be ashamed for Christ’s sake?
The government dumped us there. And
once we got there Charlie was coming after
us. We had no choice up to that point. But
every time the shit hit the fan, we made
choices ordinary men never have to make.
We could hide, we could do just enough
to stay out of trouble, or we could do
whatever it took for our mates.”
I was about to say something but he was
on a roll. “My shrink pointed that out to
me years ago and I thought, Rodney, he’s
bloody right, you know, no soldiers in the
world look after each other like we do. If
poor old Charlie paid a high price for that,
it wasn’t our fault.
“What you did for me was special, but I
reckon the tanks saved hundreds of other
Aussies while they were there. Some idiot
officer sent them home to Australia before
my Battalion and three of my best mates
were killed assaulting a bunker system.
I’ve got no doubt they’d be alive today if
we’d had tanks with us. And what about
grunts? If one bloke didn’t do his job
we were all history. And sappers feeling
for mines in muddy rivers so you blokes
could drive across safely? Chopper pilots?
The balls those blokes had when we
needed them.
“So you need to think about that mate.
If the only good thing we could have
done over there was look after our mates,
you did that in spades and you should be
proud of it.”
We collected our bags and I was feeling a
bit awkward about how to say goodbye. He
handed me a piece of paper with his mobile
number. “Give me a call,” he said “But I
don’t want to hear any bullshit war stories.”
We laughed at that and he started to
hold out his hand but then gave me a
self-conscious hug. I think he tried to say
something but it didn’t come out. Then he
quickly turned and limped off.
On the eve of ANZAC Day it took me
an hour to find my campaign medals. I
thought about Rod’s view of the war and
wondered why I’d never thought about it
that way. I hadn’t allowed myself to think
about it at all, was probably the answer.
I can’t imagine ever feeling proud of my
involvement but that’s okay, I don’t need to
go that far.
I put my medals away where I can find
them easily next year. Just in case.
Michael Kelly
Michael Kelly’s national service included
nine months in Vietnam from January to
September 1971 with the 1st Armoured
Regiment, on Centurion tanks. He
writes: “The view I’ve had of the war for
the past 44 years is expressed through
the narrator of the story. But recently
I read a book called Jungle Tracks, a
history of Centurion tanks in Vietnam.
What struck me was the interviews with
infantrymen - the high regard they had
for the tanks and how they attributed to
tanks the saving of many Aussie lives.
That revelation prompted me to write
this story and submit it for a short story
competition. It won third prize.
REVEILLE 89
BOOK REVIEWS
Kokoda Secret: Ian Hutchison
Australian Hero
By S. P. Ramage
Abbey’s Bookshop Ph (02) 9264 3111
[email protected]
This book seeks to set right
an injustice to Colonel Ian
Hutchison DSO, OBE, MC,
ED, in that he was not given
due credit for his leadership
of 2/3rd Battalion at the Battle of Eora
Creek Ridge in PNG, as part of the
Kokoda Campaign. As the book outlines,
the courage and leadership of Ian
Hutchison started in 1939 and continued
through WW II and Korea (in part) until
his retirement from the Army.
Ian was a Sydney boy and a member
of Mosman Scouts, the first scout troop
in Australia. He believed the Scouts
contributed to his values and military
interest. By 1934 he was a lieutenant
in the militia and joined the Second
AIF on 13 October 1939 with the
number NX100. He was assigned to
2/3rd Battalion which was part of the
6th Division and as such fought in the
Middle East; Egypt, Lebanon, Syria and
Greece. He had already demonstrated
his courage and leadership by being
awarded the Military Cross for his part
in the assault on Bardia.
Ian’s 2/3rd Battalion was sent to PNG
in September 1942 and eventually made
their way up to the front line, as such,
climbing the Kokoda Trail. This was
an achievement in itself considering
all the equipment each soldier carried.
The Japanese had been pushed back to
a place called Eora Creek, which was
extremely defendable, and had stalled
the Australian advance.
Ian at this stage was a major leading
one of four companies which made up
the 2/3rd Battalion commanded by Lt.
Col Stevenson. The book outlines that
REVEILLE 90
Stevenson was slightly wounded and
went back down the Track to an aid
post for treatment, where he remained
for a month. In late October 1942 Ian
became acting battalion commander. He
organised and led into battle the 2/3rd
Battalion which routed the Japanese and
won the Battle of Eora Creek Ridge. The
book will supply all the details regarding
his lack of accreditation for success
in this battle; suffice to say there was
not a great deal of recognition of Ian
Hutchison’s role.
The 2/3rd Battalion returned from
PNG to North Queensland, where it was
rested and reinforced until it went on
to fight in the Aitape-Wewak campaign
in 1944/5. There is an interesting
chapter, in the book, on how Ian’s wife,
Moyra, managed to get from Sydney to
Cairns and meet up with Ian contrary
to war time regulations. They had been
separated for well over two years at this
stage of the war.
In 1951/2 Ian rebuilt and then led 1
RAR in Korea as part of his distinguished
career in the Australian Army.
In my view after reading this wellresearched book, Ian Hutchison is an
Australian hero with or without the
acknowledgement of Eora Creek.
Warren Baker
A Duty Done
A summary of operations by the
Royal Australian Regiment in the
Vietnam War, 1965-1972
By Fred Fairhead
Royal Australian Regiment SA Inc
Ph (08) 8379 5771
[email protected]
Fred Fairhead writes that
the purpose of A Duty Done
has been to provide an
understanding of the extent
of the Royal Australian
Regiment’s involvement, and the nature
of its role, in the Vietnam War. There
is no doubt that this 191-page book,
liberally covered with operations maps,
has achieved this objective.
It is a remarkable book, painstakingly
assembled, providing a first class
examination of the Royal Australian
Regiment in South Vietnam. It covers over
50 operations in a 10-year period from
1962-1972 involving all nine battalions.
The glossary of military terms,
abbreviations and acronyms is very
well presented in easy to understand
language. In addition, the introduction,
Chapter 1, is succinct and lucid.
This is a well-produced technical
book that assumes the reader has basic
infantry knowledge to follow the very
clear dialogue. Each operation by the
respective battalion is set out in an easy
to follow sequence.
The photos scattered throughout the
book are correctly presented with the
appropriate operation. The small sections
dealing with awards for each operation
are excellently identified.
The endnotes made interesting reading.
Again they are set out in clear language
with the accompanying photos. This is a
warts and all account. In many examples
Colonel Fairhead pulls no punches.
Two things grated. I hate being
addressed by my surname (family name).
No one in this book, apart from the
author, has a first name. Secondly, any
history book worth its salt has an index
(where the reader can easily identify
events and people in the narrative). If
there was one in A Duty Done I was
unable to find it!
These blemishes aside, I am sure
readers who have served with the Royal
Australian Regiment during its time
in the “funny farm” will find much to
interest them in this excellent book.
Roland Millbank
BOOK REVIEWS
The Nashos’ War
By Mark Dapin.
Penguin Australia Ph (02) 9811 2400
or E www.penguin.com.au/
A quick check of the literature
the author used for references
reveals quite a number of
books written about the
Australian Vietnam wartime
experience. At least from a national
serviceman’s point of view this is an
excellent, well researched book which
I enjoyed reading because it remained
focused upon what it set out to portray.
In terms of style it begins at the time
of the call up for National Service, in
the 1960s, and goes through until it was
abolished by the Whitlam Government
in late 1972. This of course, makes the
reading of it largely a step by step process
but one does not seem to mind. The book
takes you through the familiar battles
of Long Tan, Coral, Balmoral and Binh
Ba with the Nasho certainly in mind,
but it also examines the steady attrition
of personnel from the many singular
incidents where fate or just bad luck
seemed to remove lives.
However, there are a number of chapters
which begin as “The Myth of . . .” In
these chapters the author demolishes
those myths that have surrounded national
servicemen, but more particularly
Australia’s involvement in Vietnam.
One example is “The Myth of the
Moratorium” and its impact on national
policy and national service. These
chapters are a very useful insight into
an era when TV reporting of one person
resisting “call-up” gained more credence
than all the young men who accepted the
call-up and went off to do their duty as
the nation saw it!
Even today I would suggest that the
community sees National Service as the
solution to unemployment, wayward
youth and so forth. I doubt the army
sees themselves responsible for solving
such issues.
I certainly commend the book to all
Nashos and the wider population in
general as an examination of Australia’s
history for that period of the National
Service Act.
Warren Baker
Australia’s Real Baptism of Fire
By Greg Raffin
Five Senses Education Pty Ltd
ISBN 978 1 74130 594 4
Ph (02) 9838 9265 or
[email protected]
Australia’s Real Baptism of
Fire – Heroes known only to
a few is a small book which
fills a big hole in Australian
military history research.
Books abound which deal with Australian
involvement at Gallipoli, in the Middle
East and on the Western Front, but few
historians have bothered with Australia’s
first military expedition in World War
1 – the event which resulted in Australia
having colonial authority over New
Guinea for decades.
Seven months before the ANZACS
made their name at Gallipoli, our first
national military action took place
in the German held territory of New
Guinea. The Australian Naval & Military
Expeditionary Force left Sydney just
two weeks after the declaration of war
by Britain on 4 August 1915 and was
engaged in its first action at Nauru on
9 September. Two days later the force
landed on New Britain and on September
13 the British flag was raised at Rabaul.
Once New Guinea was secured, the
expeditionary force moved on to occupy
New Ireland, Nauru, Admiralty and
Western Islands and German Solomon
Islands, all of which was achieved by
December 9.
While the campaign might be seen
by some as just “a minuscule blip on
the radar of Time”, seven Australians
lost their lives in New Guinea and the
Australian submarine HMAS AE1
disappeared with all hands on board –
three officers and 32 sailors. They were
our first war dead and they deserve an
honoured place in our annals.This an
important chapter in our history which
has long been ignored. Greg Raffin’s
book is an excellent effort to redress
that ignorance. It is well researched,
comprehensive and eminently readable.
Sandra Lambkin
The Anzacs 100 Years On in Story
and Song
By Ted Egan
Wild Dingo Press Ph (03) 8571 4999
or E www.wilddingopress.com.au
It is not often that a reviewer
gets the pleasure of a book and
an accompanying music CD to
review so I am very pleased to
be given this opportunity. As a
singer in a choir I had some knowledge of
what to expect from the CD and I must say
that I was not disappointed by either the
CD or the book.
The book is illustrated with photographs
and maps throughout and is A4 in
size. The text and related photographs
make for a simple outline of WW I
wherein Australians were active. The
first section deals with Gallipoli, largely
concentrating on Australians, but it also
covers New Zealanders. The three main
areas of conflict are set out, namely; the
Dardanelles, Western Front and the Desert
Campaign through Palestine.
The book also covers other areas: the
Nursing Corp, Ted Egan’s uncles who all
fought, the Australian domestic scene and
REVEILLE 91
BOOK REVIEWS
some Australian politics. For people who
have not studied any WW I history this
is an easy reading way of learning what
happened in this terrible undertaking.
The CD is well constructed in that it
features an Australian ANZAC, Jack
Nicholson, introducing the songs on the
CD. Jack did the narration shortly before
his death in 1986 aged 92.
The songs themselves are those which
we would normally associate with WWI,
together with some written and performed
by the author. The final song is written and
sung by Eric Bogle, And the Band Played
Waltzing Matilda. Eric’s song is a great
encapsulation of the whole terrible ordeal
that was WW I and a welcome inclusion.
I would heartily recommend the book
and CD as a great learning experience
for all those who want to know what our
forebears endured.
Warren Baker
Australian Soldiers in Asia
Pacific in World War II
By Lachlan Grant
NewSouth Publishing
E [email protected]
Ph (02) 8936 0100
Once in a while a book on the
Australian Army involvement
in World War Two comes along
which provides a very different
view. Dr. Lachlan Grant’s new
book does just that. This is a history of a
different genre with emphasis on the social
and political aspects rather than what
happened in the battles of that time.
Ignoring the grand strategy of the war,
and those at the top who have already
had lots to say, the author focuses on the
interactions of soldiers on the ground
and the different peoples and cultures
they experienced. There are some most
interesting stories here. Dr. Grant has
looked into many lives of individual
volunteers, through their letters and
REVEILLE 92
THE RSL BOOK OF
WORLD
WAR I
True stories of Aussie courage and mateship
from the annals of the RSL
John Gatfield and Richard Landels
The RSL Book of World War 1
Edited by John Gatfield and Richard Landels
Published by HarperCollins
Ph (02) 9952 5000
This collection of stories contributes
much to the commemoration, over the
next four years, of the centenary of
battles and of those who fought.
The sounds of the Great War now
resound most stridently in the words
of soldiers. We don’t necessarily learn
much from the words of politicians and
generals. It is in this contrast that may
lie one explanation for the revival of
interest in the Great War over the past
30 years: because we hear the stories
through both the lyrical and the prosaic;
through the factual and the descriptive;
but mainly through the words of people
who were there as if they are names
frozen in time.
This book then, is a collection of
stories (104 of them), taken from
various publications of the RSL,
“written by Diggers for Diggers”.
The editors have done a fine job in
commemorating those who served
through personal stories told by the
participants. Rear Admiral Doolan
writes in his thoughtful preface:
“They record the excitement and
horrors of battle, the extraordinary
courage of ordinary men and women
and the irrepressible larrikinism of
boisterous young men . . .”
Jackie French, Senior Australian of the
Year for 2015, has recently written in
praise of this story-telling genre:
“Stories are the richest legacy we can
leave – because our stories connect us,
as families, friends, communities and as
a nation.”
The editors’ selection of stories
is well considered. They range
chronologically from the capture of
German New Guinea (“The First
Away”) to the Gallipoli campaign
(most memorably “Stretcher-bearers at
Anzac”) to the Western Front. Sapper
Smith’s diary at Fromelles is stark.
On this one Wednesday night, 19 July
1916, 5533 Australian soldiers were
killed, wounded or captured. It was, as
historians have written, “the worst 24
hours in Australia’s entire history.”
Then there are interludes when, among
the unimaginable tragedy, there is time
to stage the “Melbourne Cup” (“An
Australian Race Meeting in France”).
There is time for a touching tribute.
Private Desmond Tomkins’s “A Gallant
Conscientious Objector” tells the story
of 18 year old Tomkins’s friend, the
scholarly Reverend Digges La Touche,
killed at Lone Pine on 6 August 1915.
There is now a plaque in Sydney’s
St Andrew’s Cathedral in memory of
Lieutenant La Touche. Tomkins’ simple
description of Digges’s last moments
still has much emotional force:
“When the whistle blew, Digges led
his platoon forward to a hail of rifle and
machine gun fire. Seconds later Digges
was dead . . .”
There are 16 pages of photos but in
some ways, they’re not needed. The
words paint the picture.
So, let the words sink in as the
storytellers come back to life again, 100
years after the stories happened.
Then, go out and retell the stories!
James Rodgers