Around the water cart.

The city of Albany WA is setting aside Anzac Day 2001 to commemorate the important it played in the embarkation of the Australian Light Horse to World War I and its historical importance as the `jumping off' point for the first convoy. Of special interest to descendants of (or historians interested in) the Light Horse will be an exhibition coordinated by the Albany Tourist Bureau which will mount a display of photographs and memorabilia of some of the servicemen who were in Albany before they departed for the Middle East. Contact Ms Joy Bradley at Old Railway Station, Proudlove Parade, Albany 6330, e-mail [e-mail] or telephone [phone] for further information (Descent, Journal of the Society of Australian Genealogists, September 2000).

The only rank-and-file British prisoner from the Sandakan, Borneo camp to survive the war, Les Mockridge, has died in England at the age of 81. Mockridge, a LAC electrician in the RAF, was captured in Java on 8 March 1942 and arrived in Sandakan in April 1943. In October 1943, the British Other Ranks in Sandakan, isolated from the Australians and desperate for news, drew straws to decided who should fake an illness serious enough to warrant specialised treatment at the Sandakan town hospital. Mockridge drew the short straw and was able to `develop' severe abdominal pains, which resulted in his admission to hospital and the removal of his perfectly healthy appendix under local anaesthetic. When he recovered, Mockridge and his nursing orderly, AC Thomas Wilson, were not allowed to return to Sandakan camp. The Japanese feared they had become `contaminated' by coming into contact with some of the Australians arrested in July 1943 following the betrayal of Capt Lionel Matthews camp underground movement (Matthews was executed at Kuching in March 1944). Mockridge and Thomas were removed to Kuching and placed in the officers' compound. Of the 824 British POW sent to Sandakan, only 31 (all officers except Mockridge and Thomas) survived the war. (Obituary, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 October 2000).

More about pack transport. In Water Cart of June and September 2000, I gave some information on the 1st Australian Pack Transport Company in World War 2. David Zinader of Junee, NSW writes to Vetaffairs, September 2000, that a small group of veterans from 1st and 3rd Pack Transport Companies march in Sydney each Anzac Day under their banner depicting a pack horse. They also take their banner to Harden, NSW in August each year, where a ceremony is held to commemorate the formation of the 1st Australian Horse, from which they consider their units descended.

The sole surviving Supermarine Walrus aircraft in Australia is being restored at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook. The Walrus was used extensively in the air-sea rescue role in WWII. The first Australian operational pilot and crewmen with No 10 Squadron in the UK were killed in a Walrus while attempting a night landing on the coast of Brittany to evacuate President De Gaulle's wife and daughter. (Pipeclay, Newsletter of the Naval and Military Club, Melbourne, October 2000).

The Book and Music Club, Sydney (02 9911 1338) is advertising Weapons of the Trench War 1914-1918. An overview of the unique weapons which impacted on the effectiveness of trench warfare in WWI. 174 pp, B&W photographs, $47.20 incl GST, excl p&p. (Advertising received, November 2000).

Our naval historians will enjoy this! Most of us are familiar with the stories of press gangs, which were used to recruit seamen into the Royal Navy. At one time, the British Army had a system of `impressment' but when a general `press' for the Army was conducted in 1799, it went down so badly with the serving soldiers that it was never repeated. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says, `In 1799 a general press of all rogues and vagabonds in London was ordered, those pressed to be drafted into the regiments. It is said that all who were not too lame to mn away or too destitute to bribe the parish constables were swept into the net. The serving officers and men were so disgusted by their presence that there was undisguised connivance at their desertion. No further attempt to use the press for the Army was made' (Edited item from Family Tree Magazine, January 1998).

Ernest Corey of 55 Infantry Battalion is the only soldier to have been awarded the Military Medal and three bars. He earned his MM and two bars in 1917 in France as a stretcher-bearer and his third bar in 1918, saving his company commander while receiving serious wounds himself. He served in 2 Garrison Battalion's RAP at Port Kembla during WWII and died in 1972. (Army, 9 November 2000).

A roll is being compiled of men who fought at Elands River in August 1900. Peter Silk at [e-mail] is anxious to contact relative of these men. If any member knows of relatives, please contact him (Vetaffairs, September 2000).

A memorial to soldiers executed for desertion in World War 1 is being erected in the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, England. The memorial, which allows pinewood stakes to be placed in the ground by the public in memory of individuals whom they `sponsor' by buying a stake, is surmounted by a 2.5 metre-tall statue of a blindfolded soldier facing a firing squad. Sponsors are still required for two Australian-born soldiers who served in the New Zealand Army: Privates John Joseph Sweeney of the 1st Otago Battalion and Private John King of the 1st Canterbury Battalion, executed in France in 1917. (Sydney Sunday Telegraph, 7 January 2001).

How many Australians qualified for the clasp `Battle of Britain' on the 1939-1945 Star? Only 21 qualified, and only 7 survived the war. (Intrep, Newsletter of the ACT Branch, November 2000).

Something for collectors? KR White Books, Tuggeranong, ACT (02 6292 6600) has a book Foreign Awards to Australia from WWI to the Korea War. Barlow K (compiler). Published by compiler 2000. Card cover, new, signed by compiler. $55 **. (Note from Joe: The catalogue entry for this book also says `Includes foreign awards to civilians & military personnel from 1950-1973'. This seems to indicate that it goes beyond the Korean War? Check it out with supplier, K R White Books, Tuggeranong, ACT, (02-6292 6600) if you are interested in the book.)

The first German prisoner to escape successfully from India during World War II, Rolf Magener, has died in Heidelberg aged 89. He broke out of his camp in 1944 with the mountaineer Heinrich Harrer. While the latter headed for Tibet (and later recorded his adventures as Seven Years in Tibet; publisher unknown (1953).), Magener struck off across India for 2,300 kilometres towards the Japanese lines in Burma. The Japanese, convinced he was a spy, imprisoned him in a Rangoon jail for months. When his bona fides were established, he was flown to Japan and spent the rest of the war as an honorary consul at the German Embassy in Tokyo. He finally returned to Germany in 1947 and was imprisoned by the Americans! He published an account of his escape, Prisoners' Bluff in 1953. (Obituary, the Sydney Morning Herald 29 May 2000, from the Daily Telegraph, London).

Ian Skennerton's International Arms and Militaria magazine Collector now appears as an A5 magazine four times a year, with the larger magazine now an annual, three times the size of earlier issues. Next annual issue is Issue No 20. (Information from Collector No 19 received late 2000).

The New Zealand Army has made changes to its official badge. One of the crossed swords has been replaced by a taiaha (a traditional Maori long club) to reflect the partner cultures within the Army. (The Volunteers, Journal of the New Zealand Military Historical Society, Volume 25, No3).

The Victorian Branch has for sale a set of World War Two fatal casualty microfiche. The set comprises 486 Army, 40 Navy and 173 RAAF microfiche, each arranged alphabetically. Typical information recorded is name (sometimes only initials), number, unit, place and date of demise. Bids and expressions of interest should be forwarded to the Branch Secretary by 30 April 2001. The intention is to sell the set to the highest bidder over $250. (Despatches, Newsletter of the Victorian Branch, December 2000).

John Good, DFC and bar has died in Warrnambool, Victoria at the age of 83. From February 1943, he and his crew completed 30 operations in RAAF 467 Squadron Lancasters. Later, Good was posted to 466 Halifax Squadron at Driffield. It was while he was with 466 Squadron that his crew was chosen as the subject of a painting by war artist, Stella Bowen. It is titled Halifax Crew, Driffield, and is part of the art collection at the Australian War Museum. It is also a favourite postcard in the War Memorial shop. (Obituary, Sydney Morning Herald 4 December 2000, written by his widow, Margaret Good).

There is one Australian buried in Arlington National Cemetery, the major United States war cemetery established in the grounds of Robert E Lee's former plantation in Maryland. Pilot Officer Francis Milne, RAAF, was the co-pilot of a US Army Air Force Dakota which was shot down with the loss of all crew in PNG on 25 November 1942. The aircraft wreck and remains of the crew were discovered in 1987. Unfortunately, while the remains were all identified, those of the P/O Milne and the flight engineer were so mixed up that they could not be separated. The families of P/O Milne and Technical Sergeant Joseph Paul agreed to both sets of remains being placed in a single casket and interred together at Arlington. P/O Milne's grave is visited for the short ceremony every Anzac Day by Australian military personnel serving in the Washington area. (Intrep, Newsletter of the ACT Branch, June 2000).

Someone asked recently why the RAAF would have had unarmed Tiger Moths in New Guinea in World War II, operating in a forward area. Five Tiger Moths (three with wooden frames and two with metal frames) operated as part of No 1 Air Sea Rescue Squadron from Gaol Gardens strip from December 1942. An interesting story on how they came to be there is in RUSI (Queensland) Bulletin of June 2000. It is written by Dan Thatcher, one of the Sergeant pilots involved in flying the aircraft from Richmond to Port Moresby. (Article reprinted by courtesy of Editor Slipstream).

On Christmas Day 1945, a combined British, Indian and Japanese(!) force mounted a deliberate attack on Indonesian nationalists in Java. The war against Japan had ended in August, but within three months of their surrender, Japanese troops were rearmed and employed by the allies in the Dutch East Indies. Japanese artillery provided fire support and Japanese tanks gave intimate first support to a Japanese battalion commanded by Major Gilbert Hickey MC of the 5th Royal Ghurkha Rifles. His company, C Company, was in reserve. Two Japanese and two Ghurkhas were killed in the assault. There is reported to be no photographic evidence of this Anglo-Japanese co-operation. (Bulletin of the Military Historical Society (UK) February 1998). Joe adds: Brigadier Gil Hickey, MC and bar died in London in 1997, aged 75. He won his MC against the Japanese in Burma in March 1944 and a Bar three months later when commanding three platoons of the 3rd/5th Ghurkha Rifles in fierce hand-to-hand fighting. At the end of the Burma campaign, his regiment moved to Malaya, where they rounded-up two Japanese battalions. No doubt Gil little thought that he would shortly be commanding a Japanese battalion in action! When the 3rd/5th transferred to the Indian Army on partition, he went to the British Army's 1st/6th Ghurkha Rifles, served with them in the Emergency in Malaya, and commanded them during Confrontation with the Indonesians in Borneo. Joe served with him twice during these periods. Gil Hickey was later Colonel of the Brigade of Ghurkhas and commanded 48 Brigade in Hong Kong. There may be an idea here for an article by a member about these little-known operations in Java, which continued well into 1946 and in which 622 British and Indian troops were killed?

The New Zealand Army has made changes to its official badge. One of the crossed swords has been replaced by a taiaha (a traditional Maori long club) to reflect the partner cultures within the Army. (The Volunteers, Journal of the New Zealand Military Historical Society, Volume 25, No 3).

Only two Australians managed to escape from Turkish POW camps in World War I. One was Lt T W White, Australian Flying Corps. The other was Private Alexander Sast of C Coy 10th Infantry Battalion. He was captured at Gallipoli on 19 June 1915. After surgery for the wound which led to his capture, Sast was tortured by the Turks but disclosed no information. In December 1915, he was transferred to a German POW camp in Bulgaria, from which he escaped, went by coach to Bucharest and travelled towards the Russian border (Sast was born in Russia and served for five years in the Russian Baltic Fleet before moving to Australia and taking Australian citizenship). Sast eventually reached Archangel and reported to British authorities. He was placed under arrest as a deserter and only released after a lengthy court of inquiry. He returned to active duty, was posted to 3 Ammunition Supply Park and was one of the first Australians to qualify to drive the giant caterpillar tractors used to haul heavy guns and their ammunition. He returned to Australia in 1918 and drifted into obscurity. (Army Newspaper, 6 July 2000, with acknowledgments to Lt Cdr Swinden RAN).

In Sabretache, December 2000 (to which Joe was unable to bring the water cart owing to lack of space in the unit lines), there is an article by Craig Wilcox, based on his presentation to our Queen's Birthday Weekend Conference in June 2000. The National Archives of Australia are now advertising Craig's book The Boer War: Australians and the War in South Africa, 1899-1902 (Research Guide No 9). This guide to the official Australian Commonwealth records of Australia's involvement in the Boer War includes records held by both the National Archives and the Australian War Memorial. The records cover recruiting, training and shipping the various Commonwealth contingents through their nominal rolls, pay sheets, reports and thousands of files. NAA 1999, 94pp, $10.00. Also available online at www.naa.gov.au (Publications Catalogue 2000-2001, National Archives of Australia.)

The Sydney Morning Herald of 30 September 2000, contained a letter giving a strong recommendation of battlefield tours of the French Battlefield, war cemeteries and memorials conducted by Colin Gillard of Battlefield Tours, 54 Grand Rue, Martinpuich 62450, Bapaume, France. Telephone [phone] or e-mail [e-mail] Mr and Mrs Bollard of Oatley, NSW say Colin Gillard assisted them to find all the names on memorials for which they were searching and four out of eight grave sites. They stayed at Gillard's home on the first night and had dinner, bed and breakfast there on the next day. They thought the total cost was reasonable for what they recommend as an excellent tour service. (Travel 5, Sydney Morning Herald, 30 September 2000).

And, before I turn off the tap, some books from K R White, Tuggeranong, ACT (02-6292 6600) (Catalogue No 105, November-December 2000:

* The Zulu and Boer Wars. The Australian Illustrated Encyclopedia of R Austin. Slouch Hat Publications 1999. 326pp, illus & maps, VC awards, Honour roll. H/C, new. $54.95 **

* Milne Bay, 1942. The Story of `Milne Force'. Baker C and Knight G (Researchers). AMHP, Sydney 2000. 495 pp, illus & maps. Aust Inf Units, Gunner Units, Royal Commission into Atrocities. $55.

* A Pictorial History of 451 (RAAF) Squadron: Barrington M & J (Compilers). Published by Squadron 1998. 161pp. C/Cover. New. $38.50

* All Men Back -- All One Big Mistake. Story of Survivors of HMAS Perth and as POW. Bee W A. Hesperian Perth WA 1998. 143pp, illus, ships complement. New $22.00

* Shoulder to Shoulder. A Military History of the Baw Baw Shire (Incorporating former shires of Buln Buln, Narracan, Walhalla and Warragul). Blair R. Published by author 2000. 253pp. A record of those who served. C/cover. New $33.00

* The Australians in the South African War 1899-1902. A Map History. Chamberlain M. AHU Canberra 1999. 136pp, large format, c/cover, new. $27.50 (Joe adds: Max Chamberlain gave a talk based on this book at our 2000 Conference in June. See Sabretache September 2000, page 3.

** All prices include GST but not postage, which will be added to invoice.