Around the water cart.

Joe says: Remember pen and ink? An extract from British Commonwealth Force, Korea, General Routine Orders No 145 of 7 September 1953:

225. Stationery--Use of Ball Pointed Pens.

(a) Ball-pointed pens are provided only for those engaged on the following work:

(i) Manifolding--where the top copy has to be completed in ink and where, additionally, not less than three under-copies are required and the greater proportion of the user's time is engaged in such work.

(ii) Card recording--where there is convincing evidence that that the greater cost of ball-pointed pens over ordinary pen and ink will be offset by staff savings.

(iii) Preparing letters where carbon copies are required for retention--so as to relieve the typing shortage.

(b) Demands for ball-pointed pens will be accompanied by a certificate signed by an officer not below the rank of major, certifying that they are required for one or more of the purposes shown in paragraph (a) above.

(Le Grognard, Newsletter of the ACT Branch, February 2005).

The identity of the soldier whose remains will be interred in the New Zealand Tomb of the Unknown Warrior will never be revealed. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has said it would not allow DNA testing of the remains, or any other New Zealander who lies buried in France but whose identity is unknown. Spokesman Peter Francis said governments, including New Zealand's, had agreed that their war dead should not be disturbed, including for forensic testing and irrespective of advances in science. The only exceptions have been to return the remains of a soldier for an Unknown Warrior's tomb. Although it would be technically possible to identify the New Zealander through DNA testing of any hair or bone, that will not be done. In part, this is to preserve the symbolism of having an Unknown Warrior representing all the services and all those killed, but also to prevent what could become literally thousands of requests for remains to be exhumed across Europe. There is also a desire to avoid the controversy caused in the United States when the identity of its "unknown warrior" from the Vietnam War was revealed, and confirmed through DNA tests. At the request of his mother and family, he was removed from the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery and buried alongside his father. The soldier selected by the Commonwealth commission to be returned was exhumed in October 2004 from the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery near Longueval, where thousands of soldiers killed in the Battles of the Somme in World War I are buried. Also to be interred with the soldier will be soil from throughout New Zealand, including some from the farm of double Victoria Cross recipient Charles Upham. (The New Zealand Herald, 11 November 2004.)

A new $21.6 million Defence Housing Authority development at Adamstown, NSW (a suburb of Newcastle) has been named after Captain Clarence Jeffries VC. Originally from Wallsend near Adamstown, Capt Jeffries was killed in action at Passchendale in Belgium on October 12, 1917, while protecting his men under extreme conditions. (Army, 2 June 2005)

Mr Neville Kidd of 47 Kendall Street Pymble NSW 2073 has written to the Society seeking support for his proposal for Fromelles to be added to the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park as part of the $2.5m refurbishment of the memorial (Federal Council Correspondence).

There has been much publicity about the death in August 2004 of Marcel Caux and a number of individuals and organizations have obviously searched AWM and Archives records for his details. A statement to the Sydney Morning Herald by Department of Veterans' Affairs on the eve of his State Funeral in Sydney said that Marcel was born, enlisted, fought and was wounded as Harold Katte. When he first emerged as a veteran of WWI at the Remembrance Day service in Martin Place in 2000, he asked that he had wished to retain some anonymity until that time and that the file containing his service records remain private. (SMH.com.au: "Au Revoir" Marcel, 28 Aug 2004).

Carried over from the March edition: Another potent myth about Anzac is that General Bridges' horse, "Sandy", is buried close to the General at Duntroon and spent his last days there. In fact, Sandy came home in 1918 after quarantine in Egypt and lived out his twilight years in a paddock by the Maribyrnong River, Victoria. Going blind and getting weak, the gelding was humanely put down in 1923. Sandy's head and neck were mounted and displayed at the Australian War Memorial until taken down in the late 1980s to make way for other collections. Memorial spokeswoman, Laura Ryan, says: "it has to be remembered that Sandy is now almost 100 years old and he is a very fragile and precious relic". A large new humidified cabinet is being constructed and Sandy will be displayed again from time to time and perhaps lent out to other institutions. (The Canberra Times, 7 July 2004).

"It is always good to see a long-standing injustice being remedied. I refer to the recent announcement by the Federal Government that those men of D Company, 6th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment, who were at the time not allowed to accept Vietnamese gallantry awards for their valour during the battle of Long Tan, can now wear their awards. It has been a long time coming, and over the years the lack of previous action has caused distress to those involved. One now hopes that the company commander (Harry Smith) and his surviving platoon commanders (David Sabben and Geoff Kendall) can be more appropriately recognised." (Brigadier Steve Gower AO, Director Australian War Memorial," Reflections" in Wartime, Journal of the AWM, issue 27).

As previously mentioned in my musings, Lt Col Glyn Llanwame, now Chief of Staff at the Army Recruit Training Centre, is still trying to return medals to their rightful owners or relatives. The soldier in question this time was NX 37768 Raymond Henry George Westendorf, a member of 2/12 Field Ambulance in WWII. His medals are of some significance as he was killed when a Japanese submarine off Morton Island sank the AHS Centaur. If any member has information about descendants or relatives of Mr Westendorf, contact [e-mail] (Army, 2 June 2005).

At his death on 11 May this year at the age of 108, Albert Finnigan was one of only 14 known British survivors of WWI. Although he reached the age of 18 within six weeks of the outbreak of war on 4 August 1914, he had some difficulty in joining up: he was only 5ft 3in tall and had a slight weakness in one eye. Nevertheless, he was accepted as a trainee driver in a six-horse gun-towing team by 2nd Battery, the 6th (London) Royal Field Artillery Brigade. He had already gained some experience with horses, having migrated with his family to Australia as a boy. By the time he joined the 5th Infantry Division in France in September 1916, he had become the lead driver of a team pulling an 18-pounder gun and ammunition limber. The winter of 19161917 brought exceptionally cold weather, making the acquisition of a pair of Canadian knee-high leather boots the ambition of all gunners. If they were two or three sizes too large, straw could be stuffed in the soles below two pairs of army socks. Straw stowed in the recesses of their steel helmets also helped to retain body heat. Finnigan recalled--seemingly with amusement--a number of orders from higher headquarters in response to complaints by troops at the front. One warned against complaints on opening tins marked "pork and beans" and finding no pork apparent, since "the pork had been absorbed into the beans". After demobilisation, Finnigan was unable to find civil employment and decided to return to Australia, but found conditions there little better. After seven years in various jobs, he signed as a deck hand aboard a three-masted sailing ship to work his passage home. He married after his return from Australia but decided against having any children, declaring "I am not prepared to produce cannon fodder for the army or industry". His wife, Mary, predeceased him at the age of 97. (The Times, London, 27 May 2005).

Speaking of The Times of London, it isn't often one gets to correct that august publication. On 28 April this year, The Times reported that the last time the Queen personally invested a living recipient with the Victoria Cross was in 1966, when Lance Corporal Rambahadur Limbu of the Gurkhas was decorated for bravery in Borneo during Confrontation. Our redoubtable Editor, Anthony Staunton, was able to write to The Times and set it right! There were two presentations to living recipients after 1966. During her 1970 tour of Australia, the Queen presented VCs to Warrant Officer Keith Payne and to Warrant Officer Ray Simpson for valour in Vietnam. (From one who knows.)

Midshipman Richard Bulkeley was one of the crew of HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, on 21 October 1805. He was wounded in the battle and shared the orlop deck with the dying Nelson for a time. Cochrane and Sons, Selby, England launched the Richard Bulkeley on 21 Aug 1917 as a wooden patrol and antisubmarine vessel for the Royal Navy. The US Navy acquired the ship on 31 May 1919 but six weeks later, on 12 July, while sweeping in the North Sea, her gear caught a mine that exploded. The ship sank with the loss of seven men. One of Midshipman Bulkeley descendants was Vice-Admiral John D Bulkeley, US Navy (1911-1996), who was awarded the US Medal of Honor in WWII when commanding a motor torpedo boat squadron in Philippine waters. (Courtesy Anthony Staunton).

This year is the 230th anniversary of the United States Marine Corps and is being recognised by the minting of a US Silver Dollar. Coins will be available in proof and uncirculated condition only during the one-year period commencing 1 Jan 2005. Surcharges from the sale of coins will go towards the creation of the National Museum of the Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia; the coins should be available during the 2005 northern summer. (Courtesy Anthony Staunton)

The Gallipoli Memorial Club in Sydney has initiated an annual art prize. Two awards will be made each year--one to an Australian or New Zealand artist and one to a Turkish artist for works which best represent the values and traditions embodied by those who served in the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. Prize money of $AUD 10,000 will be offered to each of the winning works, the first award to be made in 2006. Further details are available from the Secretary, Gallipoli Memorial Art Prize, 12 Loftus Street, Sydney, NSW 2000. (Prime Ministerial Press Release, 15 Apr 2005)

Our member Roy Manuel wrote to advise that he was serving in the Australian Army with 3rd Heavy Brigade RAA in Western Australia in 1940 and later in the AIF. After the war he enlisted in the Regular Army. He says the wartime Australian Army WO2's crown was quite small and without a wreath; the RQMS's badge was a crown surrounded by a wreath. (Correspondence. Thank you, Roy).

The remains of four Australian soldiers killed during WWI were laid to rest in France on 22 Apr 2005 during a military funeral attended the Chief of Army, LTGEN Peter Leahy. A French farmer found the remains in March 2003, near Merris in the north of France, buried in a communal grave. Artefacts found there included Australian pennies, AIF "Rising Sun" collar badges and a corroded officers "pip" with a fragment of uniform attached. After historical research and forensic investigation in France and Australia, two bodies remained unidentified and were buried as unknown Australian soldiers; the other two were 5665 Corporal Christopher (Ernie) Corby and 637 Lieutenant Henry Duncan Champion. Corporal Corby was born in 1885 at Laggan, NSW and enlisted on 17 January 1916 in the 18th Reinforcements of the 3rd Battalion, AIF. He was taken on strength of the battalion in Belgium on 5 October 1916 and was killed in action near "Gutzer" farm on the morning of 14 Apr 1918 during the defence of Hazebroucke by 3rd Battalion. LT Champion was a farmer at Bungendore, NSW before enlisting as a private soldier on 1 Jul 1915 and embarking with the 30th Battalion on 9 Nov. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant in March 1916 and transferred to the 3rd Battalion; wounded at Pozieres in August, he returned to his unit in December 1916 and was Mentioned in Despatches in 1917. He was commanding B Company, 3rd Battalion in the area between Strazeele and Merris when he was killed in action on 14 Apr 1918 and was again mentioned in despatches on 18 Apr 1918.

The King's Medal for Champion Shots was first awarded to the Australian Army in 1924 and was awarded (with a hiatus between 1940 and 1946) until it was replaced by 1952 by the Queen 's Medal for Champion Shots. The Champion Shots Medal, in turn, replaced this, in 1988. The medals are awarded to the soldiers adjudged the best rifle shot in the Army in open competition. The skill involved in becoming a champion shot is such that the competition has been dominated over the years by a relative handful of soldiers. The most awards of the King's Medal were to Warrant Officer Class One J D Shearim of the Small Arms School, who won the medal in 1927, 1929, 1931 and 1933. The most awards of the Queen's Medal went to Sergeant, later Warrant Officer Class Two P K Oakford, who won the medal in 1972, 1974, 1976, 1981, 1984 and 1986. WO2 Oakford also won the Champion Shots Medal in 1991. To date, the most awards of the Champion Shots Medal have been to Lieutenant, later Captain, S Boyd-Law, who has won the medal in 1992, 1993 and 1997. (Le Grognard, Newsletter of the ACT Branch, June 2004).

Our member, Monty Wedd, who established the Monarch Museum in Williamstown, NSW has been honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the Australian Cartoonists Association (ACA). He received the Jim Russell Award for "significant contribution" to the cartooning industry. Monty started drawing before the days of television, when comic books were a major form of entertainment. A former Sydney artist, Monty created many Australian comics, including Captain Justice, The Scorpion and Bold Ben Hall. He was also the creator of Dollar Bill, who became the signature character for the introduction of decimal currency in 1966 and was used extensively to teach people how to use the new currency. (Probus News, Journal of Probus Clubs of Australia, March 2005). Well done, Monty. Monty's museum is now a landmark and is just off Nelson Bay Road.

From the Autumn 2005 catalogue of Mostly Unsung Military Research and Publications, Melbourne Soldiers Bleed Too. The Redcoats at the Eureka Stockade 1854. A narrative of the Eureka action from the Redcoat perspective. With biographical and service details of over 300 men from the 12th and 40th Regiments present in Ballarat in late 1854. With event chronology and troop dispositions. 69 pages. A5. Card Cover. $16.50.

From Alexander Fax Booksellers: Only One River to Cross. An Australian Soldier Behind Enemy Lines in Korea. Harris A M. Australian Military History Publications in association with the Australian Army History Unit; 2004. Hard cover, dust wrapper, 124pp, b&w photos. The author tells of his experiences with the occupation force in Japan after WWII and his service with 3RAR in Korea, up until he was wounded. Competent in Japanese and Chinese, Harris returned to Korea in 1953 and was placed in command of a Special Agent Detachment whose task was the infiltration of intelligence agents into enemy territory. $45.