While tracing the footsteps of our forebears we have taken up residence at Varlet Farm, nine kilometres from Ypres at Poelcappelle on the Passchendaele battlefield. The farm was named by British soldiers in 1916 and formed part of the German defensive line. It was liberated by British soldiers on 26 October 1917. The ruined farm was rebuilt some 50 to 100 metres from the original in the 1920s. Piles of war debris sit in a corner of the farmyard and unexploded ordinance is frequently uncovered and defused by the Belgian army bomb disposal team stationed nearby.
It is Anzac Day on the Western Front. In darkness we drive from Varlet Farm to Zonnebeke and take a five-minute bus journey to Polygon Wood and the Buttes New British Cemetery which sits in a northeastern corner of the wood. The pathway to the butte of the old rifle range is illuminated by candle light. Mist twists its way among the trees and we shiver in the early morning chill. Atop the rebuilt remains of the Butte the memorial to the 5th Division rises majestically to overlook the cemetery. On either side stand buglers, a Scottish bagpiper and soldiers of the Belgian army, all silhouetted by the morning sky. The poignancy of the service is profound, particularly as George was shot only a short distance from where we stand. Only a few kilometres away, Allan and Percy were ordered to do the impossible. I struggle to hold back the tears and I am not alone.
My father and I lay a wreath at the Australian service, Polygon Wood, Belgium, on Anzac Day 2011 (author photo).
SEVENTEEN
IT BREAKS MY HEART BEYOND
WORDS TO THINK THAT I SHALL
NEVER SEE HIM AGAIN
FRANCE, OCTOBER
In the aftermath of the Third Battle of Ypres, the depleted 38th Battalion was loaded onto buses and transported back to the small village of Senlecques from which it had earlier departed. It was 15 October. The villagers welcomed their Australian friends and joined them in their grief for those they had lost.
Days after, when the traumatised men had been rested, Percy and Allan wrote home to reassure their family of their safety and also that of George, as the news of his death had yet to reach them. Allan seemed aware only of localised successes, celebrating what was achieved at Broodseinde and his own good luck, perhaps choosing not to acknowledge the enormous losses of Passchendaele, possibly unaware of the roll call that told the real story.
In the field
20-Oct 1917
My dear Mum Dad & Jim
Well my dear mum we are back out of the line once again and I am very thankful too. We are back miles and miles away from the line too they tell us we are back for 3 months we are due for a spell now. We have had a terrible rough time lately something awful if I was to tell I know you would not believe me. We are back in the same place as we were before we moved up to the line. We went over the top twice in a fortnight. Charlie had the good luck to get away to a rest camp for a fortnight & he missed both stunts how Percy and I both came out without getting a knock I don’t know simply marvellous. It rained and it hailed while we were taking our objectives and talk about mud it was up to our hips in places. We lived in shell holes half filled with water absolutely the only things we had to live in. I can tell [you] we killed thousands of Fritz’s and [took a] jolly sight [more] prisoners. It was in this battle that [we] made such a success. I shot more in this stunt than I have ever done so before. I give the b- no mercy all our boys are the same. Les Townsend was very lucky he got slightly wounded I had a letter from him and he says he is having a tip top time. A man that’s got wounded is very lucky. Percy and I was not lucky enough to get a nice little wound. The wounded have a bonnie time and 9 times out of 10 they are slight wounds. Spuddy Kerr has been wounded also Bill Street. Percy & I are the only ones left out of the local boys from Pyramid & Mologa & Calival all the rest have been killed or wounded. I cant mention anything about the stunts but I will never forget it so you will hear it one of these fine days. Oh dear mum it is lively back here and a bonnie time we are having a rattling time. We are in for a good time here I can tell you. I was offered further promotion the other day but I refused it. I have something better in view. I am not going to tell you what it is but if I have the good luck to get it, it will mean 6 months in England for me. Well dear mum you seem to be terrible worried don’t worry mum as these things are to happen. Poor old Albert was to go so don’t worry yourself to death. We expect a letter from George any day now. He will be in England now. I told you in a previous letter that the war was going to end today but I am afraid not. But all the same Fritz is done. Well dear mum I am going to a nice little town to morrow & hope to get a few little things. Well dear mum & dad & Jim this is all the news this time so will close with best love to all. Oh mum I forgot to tell that we got a bonnie Ausy mail about a week ago also the beautiful parcel for which we thank you for. It was a beautiful one. It was in tip top order when it arrived but Percy & I soon disordered it. Charlie had gone to a rest camp and we just got it in time as we were going to advance next morning so we had some of it with us. Well dear mum dad & Jim I will say goodbye this time.
I remain
Your Loving Son
Allan S Sgt
I think Percy will be going to Blighty soon. I am going to try for todays Paris leave.
Percy’s letter was more subdued:
In the field
October 22
My Dear Mother & Father & Jim
Just a few lines to let you know we are all well as it leaves us at present. I suppose you will have been expecting to hear from me before, we have been very busy, had a couple of stunts pushed Fritz back a bit. Charlie got 14 days leave to a rest camp on the coast, and he missed both stunts, he was lucky. I went over in both, got through all right, it was very wet for the last stunt, he tried [to] gas us, when we were going up, to go over, but it was too wet as luck happened that mustard gas [is] terrible stuff if you get it. When we got to the jumping off trench he shelled us while waiting to go over; he had plenty of machine guns we were all over mud when we came out. I was lucky to come out, it was pretty hot I tell you. We are back in the same place, as we were before the stunt, not very often you come back to the same billets. It rained today, so we had no parade, do me. I am never anxious to go on parade. Got Charlie’s parcel it came when he was away, just before the last stunt, I carried the tin of crabs over with me, went allright. I must thank you very much for it. Well Mum I will close now hoping all are well I remain
Your Loving Son
Percy
While Allan writes of the virtues of being wounded and a trip to Blighty, perhaps his words are also an effort to reassure his parents that George was safe. While a wound might bring a welcome trip to England and a chance to live in safety, even briefly, many wounds brought incapacity, long-term illness, permanent disfigurement and death. A welcome wound appears contrary to all reason — although reason does not abound in war.
Of those neighbours and new friends the brothers mention in their letters home, there were few who had survived Passchendaele unscathed. Allan and Percy were yet to fully realise the true cost of the battle.
Will (Bill) Street was a farmer who lived near Mologa. He enlisted in February 1916 with Allan and Percy at the age of 23. Allan had earlier written home expressing his concern that Will now regretted his decision to enlist. Clearly Will had overcome his fears as he had been promoted corporal. Will was severely wounded on 12 October 1917 during the battle to take Passchendaele. He died two weeks later and is buried near Poperinghe.1 His brother, Harry Street, was a 36-year-old single farmer who had sailed on the Port Lincoln with Albert. Harry also expressed some regret that he had enlisted. Albert wrote from Larkhill that Harry had cried when leaving for France. He had been wounded earlier in July 1917, but returned to the front and survived to reach Australia in March 1919. 2
Hughie Martin returned to Australia in April 1918. He had enlisted in March 1916 with so many of the Mologa men. He was wounded on 4 October at Passchendaele as the 38th Battalion rushed the Broodseinde Ridge towards where the Tyne Cot Cemeter
y now sits. As the wound to his femur healed, his leg was permanently shortened and he was later invalided to Australia. 3
Les Townsend was a labourer from Mologa. He was 21 years old when he enlisted with Allan and Percy and, like them, became a member of the 38th Battalion’s Machine-Gun Section. He sailed on the Runic with the twins and was wounded at Broodseinde on 4 October 1917. He rejoined his unit on 12 January 1918.4 Another ten long months of war remained.
Spuddy (Edward) Kerr was a labourer from Janiember East who had also sailed on the Runic with the men from Mologa and was a Lewis gunner. He survived a shell blast during the Warneton raid in February 1917 and was shot in the leg at Passchendaele on 13 October 1917, lying in the morass of the battlefield for two days before being rescued. Infection took hold and Spuddy’s leg was amputated. He was repatriated in January 1918.5 At his welcome home gathering, Sarah Marlow’s brother, George Mahoney, presented a purse of 100 pounds to Spuddy. The locals had raised the money for Spuddy to purchase a prosthetic leg. As he made the presentation George explained that his nephew had sent a letter describing how Spuddy had dug him out under fire when his nephew had been buried alive. Which nephew sent the letter is unknown, the action likely to have been at Messines after which Albert remarks that they were all buried a number of times. Spuddy later worked as a valuer with the Loddon Shire Council. After his marriage in 1921 he moved to Frankston, had two children and was active in the local football club and RSL. He passed away in 1970.
A number of men who were casualties were not mentioned in the brothers’ initial letters home after Passchendaele. Their names would gradually appear over the subsequent weeks.
David Mullen was a 20-year-old farmer from Mitiamo who served with the 2nd Pioneer Battalion. He was killed on 13 October 1917.6 His brother Hugh landed with the first wave at Gallipoli, was shot three days later and sent to England. Hugh died of septicaemia in Birmingham, England, on 15 May 1915.7 The Pyramid Hill Advertiser reported on 13 August 1915 that Hugh was the first Australian soldier to be buried in England. 8
Tom Burt was 27 when he left the farm at Heathcote and sailed with Albert on the Port Lincoln. He appears in the photo postcard Albert sent home.9 He was shot at Messines but rejoined his unit in September 1917. The official telegram told his family that he had been listed as missing on 13 October 1917. After a Court of Enquiry hearing in 1918, the family was informed that he had been killed, lost in the mud of Flanders Fields.10 His name appears on the Menin Gate.
Like Tom, Gordon Swainston had sailed on the Port Lincoln and also appears in Albert’s photo postcard. 11 An 18-year-old farmer from Green Hill near Kyneton, he was one of four brothers serving on the Western Front. He had been wounded on 31 May 1917, but had he returned to his unit two weeks later. At Passchendaele on 13 October 1917 he was shot in the leg and was not fit for duty until May 1918. He would be wounded twice more before he returned to Australia.
Albert Brookes was a 23-year-old farm labourer who sailed with Allan and Percy on the Runic and also became a Lewis gunner. He was hit in the shoulder by a bullet on 3 January 1917 but recovered to return to the 38th Battalion on 2 September 1917. At Passchendaele on 13 October he was again hit in the arm and thigh. He survived to rejoin his unit.12
Albert Sinclair was a 29-year-old married farmer from Durham Ox who had enlisted on 13 March 1916 and later sailed on the Shropshire with Charlie. On 13 October he was gassed at Passchendaele but recovered and returned a week later. He suffered a gunshot wound on 17 July 1918 and returned to Australia on 20 November 1918.13
With over 60% of the battalion killed or wounded, Charlie could count himself very fortunate that he had been moved to a rest camp prior to the battles of 4 and 12 October. He was reunited with his brothers soon after their return to Senlecques. The delay in communication meant that the surviving brothers were now receiving letters from home seeking information about Albert’s death.
Oct 17th 1917
My Dear Mother, Father & Jim
… we are now at the same place as we were some time ago it is a long way back from the line and I think we will be up here for a long time I think till after Christmas, so you will have no need to worry over us. I have not heard any word of Geordie, it takes a long time to get a letter when they are wounded. I wrote to the Officer commanding his unit and to the base in London so hope to hear very soon. I wrote and told them in England. You have received the sad news about Albert. I wrote to you the day he was killed and told you how it happened. You asked if he said anything before he died. Well I said before that he did not he was killed instantly and I think by concussion, I ran to where he was as soon as they told me but when I got there he was dead. Yes, he had plenty of money and before we went into the line we always used to go every night and get something to eat. I got his breakfast for him the morning he was killed and he got up about 10 oclock and then he went on guard which was about 100 yards away from where I was, that was the last time I saw him alive, our work at that time was at night carrying war material up to the line at times it was so hot but Albert was not on any of that, or Percy. Allan was out a few nights. Albert was left behind on gas guard. He is buried in a nice cemetery. I told you before where it is. He died without fear I know he did not have any fear at all of shells or bullets, it was in the push that he was with Spud Kerr, but he was not far from me and when we got our objective. Spud Kerr Les Townsend U Martin Bill Street were wounded in the pushes the other day …
It was now close to four weeks since Charlie had received the news that George had been wounded and, without a letter from his brother, his anxiety was increasing. He wrote to his family in the hope that George had written home.
Oct 23rd 1917
… I was sorry that when you wrote you had not got the letters telling you about Albert for I wrote the same time as Mr Gollan I am sorry to say that he was wounded the other day but I can get his address I will write to him and thank him for you, he told me at the time that he wrote and I thanked him and when I see him again or get his address I will thank him for you. I told you all about poor Albert in a lot of letters how it happened and all about it, so there is no need to tell you again, but if you did not get the letters tell me and I will tell you everything again. Percy has written to you today and we are sending this with a letter to Pearl this note will be very short but I will write again I hope to get some more mail tonight or tomorrow, tomorrow morning I am going to a N.C.O. school Allan went this morning I have to get my kit ready tonight, I will be there for 3 weeks or a month it is about 4 miles away from here. I will get my mail just the same, I am not too keen on going, we are out of the line till after Xmas so that is not too bad. I have not heard about Geordie, but expect word next week I will let you know as soon as I can perhaps he has written to you. I am glad you got the cable I sent. Percy has told you about the local boys being hit I have not been in the line since Albert was killed. I am glad to hear that Pearl and our Baby are getting on well again. I sent you my photo which I hope you got alright …
Charlie had arrived at the school for non-commissioned officers where he was reunited with Allan.
Oct 27th 1917
My Dear Mother, Father & Jim,
… I am now at a Brigade N.C.O. School it is 3 miles from here I come back here every Wed. Sat. Sun half days off. Allan is there instructing he is now a sergeant. I think the school last 3 week or a month when I left to go I had to put on one stripe. I was made an acting Lance Corporal how long I will last at that I do not know but I will draw a Corporal’s pay that is about the best part of it a corporal get 10/-. I have not heard word from Geordie but hope to do so this week from Base Headquarters and from the officer. I feel confident that he will be all right. I will write as soon as I hear from him, we will be out of the line for a long time so there is no need to worry. We are starting on the winter now the trees are beginning to loose their leaves. The parcels you are sending will turn up alright we are getting our mail regular now it is alright to get the mail so often. Percy
met Wilson Townsend he was alright I did not see him I was at the rest camp at the time, Spud Kerr wrote to Allan tonight he has had his leg taken off at the knee it is hard luck for him he will be going home now Les Townsend will soon be alright, Bill Street was also hit I do not think his wound was serious. Hughie Martin was also hit …
The following day Charlie wrote to his Aunt Florrie. He was still uncertain of the whereabouts of George and unaware that Bill Street had died two days earlier. It is in this letter that he first expresses his real concern for George. For four weeks he had written to his parents with optimism in an attempt to boost their spirit, unaware of the obituary notice that had already appeared in the Pyramid Hill Advertiser and surmising that George must be badly wounded or worse. While Charlie continues to reassure his parents, he reveals his true thoughts to Sarah’s sister:
… I am sorry to say that I have not heard anything more about Geordie I wrote to the Base in London and to the O.C. I cannot understand why I have not heard anything about him he must be badly wounded. I do not know how things will be at home. I am going to cable home when I hear. Allan got a letter from Spud Kerr last night he has had his leg taken off at the knee and is getting on alright Les Townsend has a slight wound Bill Street is also wounded also Hughie Martin but as fas as I know their wounds are light. Percy may get leave to England soon, some of the boys are getting leave now…
ANZAC Sons Page 49
