Soldier Boy
Page 12
His words are caught by the wind and carried away. Across the ridges above Wire Gully. Blowing down the slopes and paths they called Monash Valley and Shrapnel Gully. Over the stones and sand of the beach, and out to sea where the hospital ships once lay at anchor.
So fresh and alive in the spring morning! The wind is whispering new words now, once spoken by Kemal Atatürk, the Turkish commander at Gallipoli and first President of the Republic. Words that are there for all of us on the memorial at Anzac Cove: ‘You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.’
APPENDIX I
JIM MARTIN’S LETTERS HOME
(A WM Collections PR 83/061 and PR 85/339, except as noted)
(Grammar, punctuation and spelling as written)
Military Camp Broadmeadows
Salvation Army Tent
26/5/15
1st Rein. 21st Batt.
Dear Mum & Dad
Just a line hoping all is well as it leaves me at present. I seen about those photos this evening. He had sent them to the wrong Martin. We got news this evening to say that the camp is going to be sifted to Seamore. But I don’t think we will go as we are expecting to go any time now. It is still pretty muddy out here yet. I think I have told you all the news. Hoping all are keeping well.
I remain
Your Fond Son
J Martin.
I will be out any time now but I don’t know when. Jim.
Seymour 21/6/15
Dear Mum & Dad
Just a few lines hoping all is well as it leaves me at present. We are not sailing Monday now but think we will be going either Wednesday or Monday. I am sending you a couple of Groups of six of our tent today. The road up here is no better than Broadmeadows in fact it is a lot worse it is just like soup. There were a few people up here on Sunday but not as many as we expected. I caught the 6.35 train from town on Saturday night arrived here about 9.30 and they did not know I had been away so I am as wright as rain. It is raining all the time up here. I went to the railway station for that parcel but could not get it that night. I think I have told you all the news so I must draw a close. Give my love to all.
I remain your loving son
Jim.
(Private Collection)
Military Camp, Seymour
Salvation Army Tent
Seymour 24/6/1915
Dear Mum & Dad
Just a few lines hoping all is well as it leaves me at present. I have just received that underclothing now. I would have sent you a wire on Monday that we did not go on Monday but the Post Office will not let us send them saying when we are going so I could not send it. We are told we are going Monday now for certain. We could not go before until we had completed our shooting. We were down the Range on Tuesday and Wednesday shooting and I passed my Musketry. We are having plenty of rain up here. I am sending a couple more photos again and one to Aunt Mary. I think I have told you all the news so I must draw to a close. Give my love to all.
I remain
Your loving Son
Jim.
Heliopolis
Thurs. Aug. 26th
Dear Mum & Dad
Just a few lines hoping all is well as it leaves me at present. I have not been here long enough to get a return from one of my letters. I have been going pretty solid this last fortnight as we have had some hard work to do before we leave for the “Dardanelles” as we are going tomorrow Friday 27th August to the Dardanelles to have our share of the Turks. I think [the word ‘hope’ is scratched out] I will be well in it by the time you get this letter. We are packing up now. Did you get that couple of handkerchiefs for you and Dad and that centre & a couple a dozen scenes that I gave Albert to give you. I will try & write as much as I can over there. There is nothing to tell you as everything is Desert and work so I must draw to a close with best love to Essie & Charlie & Essie [their daughter], Alice,?, Mary, Annie and little Mill and Dad & Mum. Remember me to Aunt Mary & Annie & Bill & George. Xxxxxxxxx
I remain
Your loving Jim
[on side of letter]
Many happy returns to Mary & Alice’s & Mum’s Birthdays & be sure to write soon
Gallipolli
4th October
Dear Mother & Father
Just a few lines hoping all is well as it leaves me at present. Things are just the same here. The Turks are still about 70 yards away from us. We have not had many casualties yet there has only been one poor fellow of our old company been shot and killed and two or three wounded. It is very dishearting to see all the others getting letters from home and me not even getting one. I have not received any since I left Melbourne on June 28th. So they must be going astray somewhere. I hope you are getting some of mine as I am writing pretty often. We have been in the trenches about a month now so we are more used to it. It is very quiet where we are so we are not seeing much of the fun. Now and again we give a few rounds rapid fire and the Artillery and the Mountain Batteries the Torpedo boats and Cruisers send a few extra shells in then we get them to waste there ammution for about twice as long. I hope your house full up with boarders and the fowls laying. How is Mary & Annie & Millie getting on at school and tell them all to write. Is Alice still at home. How are Essie, Charlie and babie. Is dad and yourself in good health and remember me to Aunt Mary & Annie and George & Bill all the rest. Wish Mary & Annie a many happy returns of the day for me. Don’t worry about me as I am doing splendid over here. I have told you all the news so I will draw to a close
I remain
(Your Loving Son Jim)
[At top of letter]
Write soon as every letter is welcome here.
[The letter is marked ‘Passed by N Wellington’ – the same officer who was Adjutant on board the troopship Southland.]
Gallipoli
1553 A Coy 21st Bat.
6th Brigade
Sat. 9th Oct. 15
Dear Mother & Father
Just a line hoping all is well as it leaves me at present. Things are just the same here. The only difference we are expecting a bit of rain which will be not welcomed by us. This place will be a mud hole when the rain does come. We had a bit of a shower last night but it was nothing to speak of
Occording to an account of a Turkish Officer who gave himself up the other night says that the Turks are getting very badly treated by the German officers and are only getting one meal a day and that was in the evening. There was one Turk who tried to give himself up the other night and got shot by the sentry. We dragged him into our trenches to bury him in the morning and you ought to have seen the state he was in. He had no boots on, an old pair of trousers all patched and an old coat. The pioneers took him down the gully to bury him and one got shot in the thigh by a sniper in the Turks trenches. We are not doing bad for food we got that little present from Lady Ferguson [wife of the Governor-General] that was 2 fancybiscuits 1 half stick of chocolate and 2 sardines each. I think I have told you all the news so I must draw to a close with Fondest love to all
I remain your loving son
Jim
[On top of letter]
Write soon Jim
I have received no letters since I left Victoria and I have been writing often.
[There are two versions of this letter. This copy has been passed and signed by A Robertson – Captain Robertson of Headquarters staff.]
LETTER FROM MATRON FRANCES HOPE LOGIE REDDOCK
H.M. Hospital Ship
Union-Castle Line
S.S. “Glenart Castle”
26.10. 15
Dear Mrs Martin
Before this reaches you, you will have already heard of your very sad loss in the death of your son. I thought you might like a few lines from me as I was with him for the very short time he was on this boat. He was brought on board from the shore yesterday at 5 p.m. in a very collapsed state. We got him t
o bed comfortably and did everything possible for him, & he said he was feeling much more comfortable & thanked me so nicely for what had been done for him. He then settled down to get a sleep but died quite suddenly & quietly of heart failure at 6.40 p.m. That was yesterday, 25th October. He will be buried at sea. I found the enclosed amongst his papers. The remainder of his little treasures that were in his pockets I have done up in a little parcel which will be sent through the regimental office, with anything else of his there may have been that did not come with him.
I know what a terrible grief it is to you to lose him, but you must I am sure feel very proud of him for so nobly coming forward to fight for his country.
Yours in all deep sympathy
(Mrs) Fr H.L. Reddock
Matron
LETTER FROM PRIVATE C.J. HOGAN
Anzac
Gallipoli
Nov. 5th 15
To Mrs Martin
Dear Madam
I am writing to you on behalf of the old No 10 Tent party to express our great sorrow at your late bereavement. Jim was in the firing line with us & he took bad but he stuck to his post till the last like the brave lad he was & made the greatest and noblest of sacrifices for his Country. Sargt Coates of his platoon No 4. speakes very highly of him & says he never had a man in his platoon who paid more attention to his duty.
I am
Yours Faithfully
Cecil Joseph Hogan
LETTER FROM CEC HOGAN TO HIS SISTER
(Private Collection)
In the Trenches
Anzac, Gallipoli
Oct 17th
Dear Kath
I received your most welcome letter this morning & was very glad to know that you got the card alright. Bob and I are still together. Ross Thompson & Russian Harvey wish to be remembered to you. It is very cold here at present. I don’t think it will be too long now before we will be back as I think Mr John Turk is just about sick of it they often come & give themselves up. You ought to see them when our batteries stick the Lydite into them you can see Turks & barbed wire in the air like a shower of rain. Willie Stewart is over here now in the 24 Batt. I see there has been nothing about us being torpedoed yet, in the papers. We are not too far from the sea here, so we often get a chance of a wash but at present I haven’t had a wash or my clothes off for about a week. Beachy Bill likes to tune us up with shrapnel while we are swimming but we are getting too quick for him now so he doesn’t do too much damage. Fancy Dougie Gallagher coming over here too. The lads give all the guns (big guns) names for instance there is Whistling Rufus, Sneaking Sal, Tired Tim, Beachy Bill, Annie, & dozens of other names. We don’t see too much of the Turks here as we all fire through the loopholes. Our chaps sap right under the Turks trenches & then blow them up. I am in a tunnel under the Turks at present. It seems funny so near to them & yet they don’t know. Well Kath Dear I can’t give you any more news at present as it is getting dark. Remember me to Uncle & Auntie & Dorrie & the boys. I would write to Bessie only I forgot her surname.
I am
Your loving brother
Cecil
(excuse scribble)
APPENDIX II
EXTRACT FROM THE SUN-HERALD
22 APRIL 1984
(Reprinted by kind permission)
‘NEVER MIND DAD’
The youngest Aussie ever to go to war
By Graham Gambie
Jim Martin, a strapping 6ft boy just out of short pants, went to war because his father had been rejected as medically unfit.
‘Jim said, “Never mind Dad, I’ll go”,’ said Mrs Nancy Johnson, 78, the last remaining member of Private Martin’s family, last week.
And she still cries with the memory of an incredibly touching moment.
‘My mother was so much against it – she said he was only a boy – but Jim said “If you don’t allow me, I’ll run away and join under another name.”
‘So mother let him go, thinking he’d get sick of it and come home or that they’d find out he was only 14 and not send him away.
‘But he went on board the Southland to Gallipoli, which was torpedoed and he was in the water for four hours – that’s what weakened him – and he died of enteric fever.’
Mrs Johnson said she believed several boys of 15 joined the Army at the same time as her brother, but as she pointed out: Jim didn’t live to be 15.
‘There was a notice in the old newspaper, the Melbourne Argus, which said he was the youngest soldier ever,’ she said.
‘One thing I do remember was that my mother said the recruiting officers said Jim was the fittest specimen they had in that day.
‘I was only nine at the time and most of my memories were of him in short pants although my parents bought him a pair of longies because he was so big, he was taller than our father.’
The story of Private Martin, which has waited nearly 70 years to be told publicly, came to light when his niece, Mrs Wilma Carlton, of Minto in Sydney’s outer western suburbs, discovered that two of her six grandchildren were going to join the Army Reserve.
She told them about their distant relative and one of them commented immediately, ‘he looks like a baby.’
As she looked at the collection of souvenirs, photographs, letters and a copper medal that she had collected in the past two years, Mrs Carlton said, ‘There’s not much left for a life is there – being only 14 when he died, he never really got started.
‘But as my grandson said to me, “It shows that even if our Aussie image is painted everywhere as just Ockers, we’ve still got a lot of brave guys.”
‘When you see the photo of the young boys who went with Jim, they didn’t look like the military at all.
‘They just look like young boys who have been put through their paces, learned how to fire a gun, got thrown into uniform and shipped off.
‘I’ve got a 17-year-old grandson as well, who has put in his application to join the Army, but if you said to him, “Come on, slip the gun on and off you go” – he’d have a fit.’
After collecting all the records from the baptism certificate to the record of Private Martin’s grave at Lone Pine Cemetery at Gallipoli, Mrs Carlton and the family decided to give his money belt, his dog tag and his belt to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
An official letter from the Curator of records says the items will be housed in the Library and Relics Section for research and possible display …
APPENDIX III
21st BATTALION, A.I.F.
6th INFANTRY BRIGADE
BATTALION SONG
There’s a Flag proudly floats o’er the ocean,
’Tis the flag of the Southern Cross so free;
It fills all our hearts with emotion,
We’ve followed it across the mighty sea.
We’ll plant it on the battlefields of Europe,
And on our trenches it will be flying first,
By the blood of our boys we will uphold it –
Here’s luck to the old Twenty-first!
Here’s luck to the old Twenty-first,
Here’s luck to the bold Twenty-first,
For the flag of our country will float higher
When held by the proud Twenty-first.
Now then let’s toast the King, boys, God bless him,
We’ll soon have fresh lands for him to rule,
No longer the German oppressor
Our loyal sons of Austral Land will fool.
There’s a war-worn old Kaiser and an Empire,
And upon them will all our fury burst,
We will think of our little Belgian comrades,
And thrust for the old Twenty-first.
Yes, thrust for the old Twenty-first,
Yes thrust for the bold Twenty-first,
With rifle and bayonet always ready
We stand as the proud Twenty-first.
For our Colonel’s a man that we’re proud of
And we’ve got a good Second-in-command,
The Adj
utant keeps us all working,
And everyone appreciates our Band.
In drill we can stand above all others,
All the Germans and Turks can do their worst,
But there’s nothing will daunt our brave Australians –
Three cheers for the old Twenty-first.
Three cheers for the old Twenty-first,
Three cheers for the bold Twenty-first,
There is nothing on earth that will stop us
Three cheers for the old Twenty-first.
(Printed on letterhead of the ‘SS Ulysses’. In the Williams Collection, AWM PR 91/113. Ivor Williams notes in his diary it was sung for the first time at a concert on 3 June 1915, as the battalion passed into the Red Sea. He doesn’t give the tune.)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many people have helped me with information, advice, and access to material during my research into the life of Jim Martin and while writing this book. I express my thanks to each of them, although naturally the responsibility for any errors of omission, commission or interpretation of the facts is mine alone.
In particular, I again acknowledge the generosity and guidance of members of Jim’s family: Mr Jack Harris, Mrs Nancy Cameron, and Mr Stephen Chaplin; and also of Mr Cec Hogan, the son of Jim’s wartime friend. Each made photographs, letters and family recollections available, and gave permission to print them. I thank them deeply.
I am very grateful to the Director and Staff of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra – Mr Ashley Ekins, Senior Historian, who first drew my attention to Jim Martin’s story and kindly shared his knowledge with me; the curators, members of the Education Section and the Research Centre – for all their help. I acknowledge the kind permission given to reprint photographs in the Memorial’s collections.