Around the Water Cart.

You may remember (Water Cart, September 1999) that I mentioned a medical officer of 2nd Bn Royal Welch Fusiliers, Captain J C Dunn DSO MC & Bar, DCM and that John Irwin of Queensland Branch had wondered what rank Captain Dunn might have held when he won the DCM? Our Federal Treasurer, Neville Foldi, has provided the following extract from the book Goodbye to All That, by Robert Graves (Penguin Books, 1961):

   `The officers I liked best in the battalion, besides Robertson, were
   Colonel Crawshaw and Doctor Dunn. Dunn, a hard-bitten Scot, had served as a
   trooper in the South African War, and there won a Distinguished Conduct
   Medal. Now he was far more than a doctor; living at battalion headquarters,
   he became the right-hand man of three or four colonels in succession.
   Whoever failed to take his advice usually regretted it afterwards. Once, in
   the autumn fighting of 1917, a shell burst among the headquarters staff,
   knocking out colonel, adjutant and signal officer. Dunn had no hesitation
   in becoming a temporary combatant officer of the Royal Welch, resigning his
   medical duties to the stretcher-bearer sergeant. The men had immense
   respect for him, and he earned his DSO many times over'.

Thanks Neville. John, I hope this is of help to you. (Incidentally, I said in the first Water Cart that I did not have the capacity to follow up particular items for readers. This still applies. I would, however, be delighted to make space for your comments, additional information (or disagreements) on any item. If they are too large to fit through the filler-hole of the Water Cart, I will ask the Editor to publish them as Letters to the Editor. Keeps those cards and letters rolling in. Joe).

A memorial to all Australian Prisoners of War is to be built in the Botanical Gardens at Ballarat, Victoria. It will include the names of nearly 35,000 Australian ex-POWs since the Boer War. Their names--including those of 8,684 Australian POWs who died in captivity--will be engraved in the memorial's granite wall. Some $620,000 will be needed for the project. The Federal Government has already provided $50,000 and donations are sought. Donations of $2 or more are tax-deductible. Contact Ballarat RSL, 2 Lyons St, South Ballarat 3353 or telephone [phone] (Vetaffairs, September 1999)

Ever walked past the Cenotaph in Martin Place, Sydney, and wondered about the two figures? They were modeled on Leading Seaman John William Vercoe, RAN and Cpl William Darby, AAMC. Darby was an Irishman who served in the US Army during the Spanish-American War and went on the serve in the AIF as a stretcher-bearer with 15 Infantry Battalion and later 4 Field Ambulance. He lost his hearing and ended his AIF service as a medical orderly at the military hospital at Randwick, NSW. (ACT Branch Newsletter, September 1999)

A new National Archives of Australia research guide The Boer War: Australians and the War in South Africa has been written by military historian Dr Craig Wilcox. It describes Archives' holdings on all aspects of the Boer War, including the raising and commitment of the Australian contingents and controversies such as the Breaker Morant trial. Guides can be purchased for $10 each plus $3.50 postage at or through Archives offices. The complete text of each guide is also available on the National Archives web site at www.naa.gov.au under `Services to Researchers'. (Memento, National Archives of Australia, September 1999)

Recent arrivals in Archives Offices around Australia include A11067/1: RAAF Nursing Records relating to the Vietnam War 1997-1998. These papers include aeromedical evacuation registers, details of nursing sisters who served with American units in South Vietnam and the correspondence of Sister Gaynor Tilley. (Memento, Archives of Australia, September 1999)

Our Sandakan dead are remembered in the UK. A memorial plaque commemorating all Australian and British POWs who died at Sandakan, on the death marches to Ranau and in the prison camps of North Borneo, has been erected in the Garrison Church of St Alban the Martyr, Royal Artillery School, Larkhill in Wiltshire. Former Captain Donald Yates, RAOC, who was a prisoner at Sandakan before being transferred with other British officers to Kuching in 1943, unveiled it. It is believed to be the first Sandakan memorial in the United Kingdom. (Vetaffairs, September 1999)

Those interested in the WWII Malaya campaign may wish to seek out Against the Sun: The AIF in Malaya, 1941-1942 by Janet Uhr (Allen & Unwin, NSW, 1998) 252pp, $29.95 RRP. This is another book in the Army Military History Series and is published under the joint editorship of Professor John McCarthy and Dr David Horner. The author has taken on the task of reworking the area covered in Lionel Wigmore's The Japanese Thrust using hitherto unexplored letters, diaries and archives. She has greatly expanded the official history account. (Canberra Historical Journal, Canberra and District Historical Society, September 1999)

Recently added to Joe's list of complimentary publications forwarded to the Society is Western Ancestor the journal of the Western Australian Genealogy Society Inc. In the September 1999 issue, Julie Martin has an interesting article on the remarkable survival of hundreds of half-plate glass negatives of Western Australian-enlisted members of the First AIF taken by the Dease Studios in Perth. Because of the cost of creating a print and 35mm archival negative from each glass plate, the J S Battye Library of WA History has conceived the `Adopt A Soldier' project. Members of the public are invited to donate $100 to the Library. For this they will receive two 8x10 black and white prints of a soldier of their choice, and the Library's preservation service will create an archival negative of the portrait for future research. There is a list of 740 soldiers available. For a list of soldiers `up for adoption' contact [phone], fax [phone] or e-mail [e-mail] (Western Ancestor, September 1999).

The Gallery Redevelopment Teams at the Australian War Memorial are now focussing on the refurbishment of Bradbury Aircraft Hall. Work will include removal of the elevated wooden floor to create additional display space, construction of a mezzanine floor for display of Mosquito aircraft, a plinth to support a Mustang fighter and a stylised carried deck featuring a Sea Fury aircraft from HMAS Sydney. The redevelopment team needs to locate working dress uniforms worn by Fleet Air Arm members during the Korean War. They also need period maintenance tools, toolboxes, marsden matting, fire extinguishers (gas, water and [CO.sub.2]) and a wooden ladder. If you can help, ring Gary Oakley, Collections Research at AWM on [phone]. (AWM Gallery Redevelopment News, September 1999)

John Hillier recently brought along to his branch meeting a Cavalry Board. This is a piece of timber about 200mm square, with a scale and compass. It has rollers on opposite sides to take a long strip of drawing paper. In use, the board was strapped to the forearm of an officer or soldier conducting mounted reconnaissance and used like a miniature plane table. The paper was advanced on the rollers as the rider moved from observation point to observation point. The end result was a strip map that could be used as such or to provide detail to transfer to a more comprehensive map. (Albury-Wodonga Branch Newsletter No 4/99, received October 1999)

Some notes on the legacy of two World Wars in France. The French Department du Deminage has 123 Bomb Disposal Technicians in the field daily. Since 1946, they have collected and destroyed more than 18 million artillery shells, 10 million grenades, 600,000 aerial bombs and 600,000 sea mines. In those 53 years, 630 technicians have been killed on duty. The hills above Verdun are so thick with unexploded ordnance that the Government has simply closed off 6.5million hectares as forbidden ground. It is estimated that the area contains 12 million unexploded items. In 1991-92 when the French National Railway dug a new bed for the Paris-London train through the Somme battlefields, normal daily collections of ordnance was five tonnes. (Albury-Wodonga Branch Newsletter No.4/99)

Alexander James Croll, DFC, DFM died on 20 July 1999. Between 1942 and 1944, he flew 73 missions with Bomber Command, most of them in Lancasters are a rear and upper-mid gunner. In August 1943, he was wounded in the head by flak during the 1000-bomber raid on the V-2 rocket sites at Peenemunde and had to have a metal plate inserted. He volunteered for the Korean War as a private in 3RAR because he was too old for the RAAF. While helping a wounded mate during a bayonet charge at Chongju in October 1950, he was again wounded in the head, resulting in paralysis of his right side and later became a sculptor and potter as a disabled ex-serviceman in Western Australia. In 1950, Ok Hyun Ahn, a South Korean soldier captured by the North Koreans, was rescued by United Nations troops just before he was to be executed. Thirty years later, Mr Ahn, now a wealthy South Korean jewelry manufacturer, struck 21 medals which he called the Korean Gold Cross of Valour (KGCV). He presented one to each of the South Korea's allies, requesting that they be awarded to a soldier who had shown great courage in rehabilitating himself. Mr Croll was Australia's recipient. He bequeathed his medal to the Korea and South East Asia Veterans Association, of which he was a founding member. (Old Faithful, Journal of the 3 RAR Association (Qld), October 1999, quoting the West Australian Sunday Times of 8 August 1999)

Our WA Branch member, Malcolm Higham, has an interesting article in Arms and Militaria Collector (Issue No 17, received August 1999) about the Murray Switch. This uniquely Australian device used an ordinary .303 cartridge to create an early warning device set off by a trip wire. It could also be used in a direct action to set off a booby trap. Despite the huge numbers manufactured, it is an item rarely encountered today by collectors.

Mr Victor Isaacs of Kingston ACT is involved with a proposal to establish an Australian Newspaper Historical Society. Such as society would promote interest and research into the history of newspapers in Australia, publish a journal and promote the collection and preservation of Australian newspapers. Contact him at PO Box E383 Kingston ACT 2604, telephone [phone]. (Letter from Mr Isaacs)

The first complete database of Australian soldiers buried in South Africa during the Boer War is now accessible at www.hagsoc.org.au. Designed and built by members of the Heraldry and Genealogy Society of Canberra with the aid of a grant from Department of Veterans' Affairs, the site includes detailed maps, photos and biographical information. (The Canberra Times, 12 October 1999).

The Medway Queen paddle steamer, built at Troon in Scotland and launched in 1924, made a record seven trips across the English Channel during the evacuation from Dunkirk, rescuing more than 7,000 men and bringing down three enemy aircraft. After Dunkirk, she went back to her duties as a minesweeper and survived the war intact to resume her old ferry route from Strood in Kent to Southend via Margate and Clackton. Saved from being broken up for scrap in 1963 and again in 1970, she settled on the bottom at her moorings at Chatham and became derelict. Refloated by a dedicated group of volunteers in 1987, she went down again in the savage storms of 1997 but is now being returned to passenger-carrying condition as funds can be raised. (RUSI (Qld) Bulletin, September 1999, quoting This England, Spring 1999)

Syd Wigzell, Queensland Branch Secretary/Treasurer, has sent a clip from the Courier Mail of 13 October 1999, noting that the former home of Sir Thomas William Glasgow has been purchased and transported from its original location in Indooroopilly to Forest Lake, where it has been restored. Sir Thomas served in the Boer War and the First World War. He was knighted in 1919 and was elected to the Senate in the same year. He was a Cabinet Minister in the Bruce government of 1922 to 1929 and then led the Nationalist-Country Party coalition in Opposition until 1932. He served as High Commissioner to Canada during the Second World War.

And a few books from K R White Books, Tuggeranong, ACT. Telephone [phone]:

* Lucky Ross, the Autobiography of a RAN Officer 1934-1951. W H (John) Ross. Hesperian Press, Perth WA. 280pp illustrated. Casualty list Sydney and Canberra. $30.

* He Came from Australia. Lt Percy Ralph MM, 53rd Battalion, AIF. V Fohlen. AMHP, Sydney, 1998. List of officers and other ranks who died in Europe, also awards. New. $20.

* Poles in Uniform. A Zyw T Nelson, London, 1942. Very scarce publication? $30.

* Saddle Up. Australian Load Carrying Equipment of British, American and Local Origin. R Landers. Published by author 1998. 128pp, illustrations and drawings. $49.50.

* Dress and Insignia of the British Army in Australia and New Zealand 1770-1880. R Montague. Sydney 1981. 136 pp. illustrated. $45.

* Voluntary Aid Detachments in Peace and War. History of in Australia during the 20th Century. R Goodman. Boolarong Press, 1991, 231pp, illustrated. Honours and awards honour roll. New $20.