“The Owen Gun” Pte Evelyn “Evo” Ernest Owen (2/17Btn 2AIF) 25-MAY-1940

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Evelyn Ernest Owen was born 15 May 1915 in Wollongong New South Wales, he was the fourth of five children born to Ernest William Owen and Constance E MacMillian. While he was educated in Wollongong, he didn’t appear to have much interest in scholarly pursuits, or a desire to follow his family’s traditional vocations, with his father being a law clerk, and having close family members in both careers in politics and the military. He was however, like most boys fascinated with all things mechanical, and in particular, firearms.

From a young age, he was regularly found tinkering with broken shotguns or rifles, often his experiments were reckless, and he was injured several times, especially when he dabbled into making homemade explosives, resulting in him having numerous scars.

Not to be deterred, as Owen grew older, he started to focus more on the theory associated with weapon-smithing and became well versed in the study of ballistics and taught himself draughtsmanship so that he could draw blueprints. In his teens, probably inspired by the Thompson Submachine Gun and the Browning Automatic Rifle, both weapons designed and built for the First World War, but were too late to see active use, but gained notoriety as weapons made famous by gangsters and moonshiners in the 1920’s. He moved on from single shot weapons and focused his attention on machine guns. Even at this young age he was able to build a number of his designs, but none where up to his own standards. While his family was reportedly very supportive of Owen’s tinkering, they on occasion did attempt to steer his passions to other pursuits.  

In 1931, Owen started the design and construction of what would become the Owen submachine gun, He was looking for a weapon that had a high rate of fire, was simple to make, did not jam and was accurate. It would take him until 1938 to finally have a weapon that he was confident to present to the Australian Army for evaluation. In July 1939, Owen travelled to Victoria Barracks in Sydney and demonstrated it to Australian Army Ordinance Officers, who promptly rejected it. The main reasons given were that the Australian Army saw no value in submachine guns, and its basic construction was unsuited for military applications. In fact, when he was asked by the assessing officer what he had, Owen replied with “It’s a Tommy Gun” with the officer snaping back. “That is an American gangsters’ gun; the army has no use for those.”

Sadly, the Australian Army had atrophied in the interwar period, primarily due to a chronic lack of funding, inadequate training, and poor equipment. It would seem that a lot of the innovation and practices that had been developed in the Great War had either been ignored or forgotten, and while they acknowledged the threat of war with Japan was a possibility, at the time Australia’s defence policy was dominated by the already defunct Singapore Strategy, where the defence of Australia would be fought away from Australia’s shore.

It should be noted that prior to the establishment of the Australian Regular Army in September 1947, the defence of Australia fell primarily to part time citizen soldiers organised into the Citizens Military Force, or Militia, and a small professional cadre of staff officers and technical trades, and the effects of the Great Depression and a the overriding war weariness following the Great War saw a steady retrenchment of the Permanent Forces, as well a reduction in the quotas of militiamen were required to be trained. It became so bad that in 1929, the Australian Government suspended the Universal Training Clauses of the 1903 Defence Act, which was what instituted the National Service for all eligible men from 12 to 29, this act left Australia grossly underdefended in the unlikely event of enemy attack. 

With the rejection of the Owen Gun, Evelyn Owen, who was working as a motor mechanic, packed his invention in grease and put it into a sugar bag, leaving it in the garage owned by one of his father’s tenants and on 28 May 1940 followed in his brothers David, Julian and Peter and enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force. He was posted to the 2/17th Infantry Battalion on 8 June 1940.

It would be at this time that serendipity would present itself, as the tenant who rented the property from his father, would be Vincent A Wardell, the General Manager of Lysaght’s Port Kembla, an iron, and steel plant. Wardell would find the Owen Gun, still submerged in grease, and was amazed that the action still functioned. After determining the inventor from a thoroughly embarrassed Ernest Owen, Wardell sent a telegram to the General Director of Munitions, stating that he had discovered a marvellous firearm that was simple in construction and worth taking a look at.

So, what changed?

Aside from the obvious commencement of the Second World War, it needs to be said that at this point, Australia was still very heavily dependent on Britain when it came to weapons production and development, and while in the 1930’s Australia did start a modernisation campaign, most of the Second Australian Imperial Force was being deployed with rifles and equipment that was used by their fathers and uncles in the First World War. So, following the evacuation of Dunkirk in May-June 1940, with so much war materiel left on the beaches of France meant that a lot of the military equipment destined for Australia and the Dominions had been reallocated to the defence of the Home Islands, which necessitated the Australian government to seek out alternatives. And it was the effectiveness of the German built MP40 forced the British Empire and Australia to revaluate their stance on the concept of the machine carbine.

On 25 June 1941 just as Evelyn Owen was preparing to go to North Africa with the 2/17th Battalion, he received orders that immediately transferred him to the Central Inventions Board in Melbourne, much to his annoyance, as he had wanted to serve alongside his brothers. He would be formally discharged five days later, as being required for employment in a reserved occupation, and received a promotion to Lieutenant.

In September 1941, after a number of revisions to the Owen Gun design, including a number of versions with differing gun calibres, it was finally ready for field testing, and it was put against the American Thompson Submachine gun, the British Sten gun and the German MP18. In those stress tests, the Owen gun was reportedly more accurate, with a better grouping of shots than the other weapons. It also proved itself almost impossible to jam even when immersed in water, mud, or sand.

Even with some initial criticisms, it was eventually decided that a 9mm version of the Owen Gun would enter into production.

John Lysaght’s was awarded the contract to produce 100 initial units, and eventually produced 45,477 Owen Guns for the Australian Army. It was considered extremely popular while in the jungles of New Guinea and the Pacific, to the point where it gained the nickname the “Digger’s Darling”. New Zealand troops participating in the Guadalcanal and Solomon Island campaigns reportedly swapped their Thompsons for Owen guns. So popular was it that it is rumoured that General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of all Allied Forces in the South Pacific, considered requisitioning it for American forces in the Pacific.

Owen didn’t initially bother applying for a patent for his invention in 1942, but he did receive £10,000 in royalties before selling the rights to the weapon to the Australian Government. With the money he received from the government, he purchased a small sawmill in Tongarra, on the outskirts of Wollongong, and he would continue to tinker with firearms but never achieved the same success he did with the Owen Gun. Sadly, he would never marry, and April 1, 1949, Evelyn Ernest Owen would pass away at the age of 34 at the Wollongong District Hospital, though the manner of his death is disputed, with sources stating either a ruptured gastric ulcer or heart failure was responsible. He would be buried in a local cemetery.

His legacy would not end with his passing, as the Owen Gun would continue to serve the Australian Army as a standard personal defence weapon (PDW), especially favoured by helicopter search and rescue crews, and was still used by Section leaders and junior officers in the Korean War, in addition it was used by infantry scouts and commando units in the Vietnam War, though by that point, it had started to show its age, and it was retired from mainline service in 1971, though it had already been rotated out by the mid-60’s.

Sadly, Evelyn Owen would receive little recognition for his invention, one that anecdotally saved countless Australian lives, and while his direct military service may have been short, his contribution to the war effort cannot be understated, he definitely did more than just his job, and for that we are eternally grateful.

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“The Scout of All Leanes” Sgt David Twining MC, MM, CdG, MID (48Btn AIF) 7-AUGUST-1916

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David Twining MC, MM, CdG, MID

David Austral Twining was born near Ballarat on 19 November 1895, to Australian-English Parents. His early life was spent travelling between Johannesburg, Melbourne, and Elmhurst, and with the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War, his father David Snr, enlisted with the Rand Rifles, a unit tasked with guarding the goldmines around Johannesburg. His mother would return to Australia with their children in September 1903 while David Jnr was seven years old, with the family’s belief that his education should take place in Australia.

He was an avid sportsman, and dedicated student participating in school cricket, and football and was both dux and Head Boy at the ages of ten and twelve respectively. He would also regularly perform at local eisteddfods. When his original school Grenville College closed in 1911, he finished his schooling at the Ballarat Church of England Grammar School, graduating in 1912 and commenced study in civil engineering, eventually moving to Kalgoorlie in Western Australia to work on the construction of the Trans-Australian Railway Line. He had also followed in his fathers’ footsteps with a career in the military, serving as a second lieutenant in the Ballarat School Cadet Company, and held a commission within the Citizen Military Forces.

He had been working on the section connecting Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie when he received word that his father had died on 30 March 1914.

Just over a year later, on 19 June 1915, David Twining, still only 19 years and six months old presented himself to the Kalgoorlie recruitment depot to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force, in his hand, a wired consent form from his mother. This was a requirement at the time as the AIF required parental consent for all recruits under the age of 21. despite his work on the railways, he listed his occupation as ‘student’. He was apparently a strongly built man, slightly shorter than both Bull Allen and John Hines at a modest 5-feet 8 ½ inches, he was what was considered at the time the average height of Australian men of the era.

Two days later he passed the medical evaluation he arrived at the Blackboy Hill Camp to complete his formal attestation to the AIF. He was posted to the 8th allocation of reinforcements to the 16th Infantry Battalion.

There is a degree of confusion about what a reinforcements allocation represented, and this system was modelled on the much older British system, where military units were raised, equipped, and reinforced from localised geographical locations, and all recruits would train locally and then be assigned to replace battle casualties or if the unit was expanded. Any recruit that enlisted after the initial allocation of soldiers to a Battalion was assigned to a reinforcement’s allocation based on their date of intake, for example, Twining was part of the eighth group of recruits to join at the 16th Battalions depot.

With the industrial horror that came out of the World Wars, and the need for reinforcements became disproportional, these allocations became a piecemeal resource that could be drawn on by whoever needed more men.

Having completed initial training, he provisionally rose through the ranks, first as a Lance Corporal then as a Sergeant on 10 August. He embarked for overseas service on 2 September aboard the HMAT Anchises bound for first Egypt then onto Lemnos, arriving in Mudros Harbour on 23 October. He would officially be taken on strength of the 16th Battalion and would return to his proper rank of private, though he wouldn’t stay at that rank for long. David would be promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal once again on 9 November while on Gallipoli.

His time on the peninsula would be short as the evacuation took place soon after, and David was one of the first to return to Alexandria, arriving there on 30 December.

In February 1916, David came into contact with a soldier who fell ill of Cerebrospinal meningitis or acute inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord and was admitted to hospital for two days as a precaution but thankfully didn’t contract this life-threatening disease.

At this point in the war, the Australian Imperial Force, underwent a period of expansion and retraining, where the existing two Australian Divisions were doubled, with each Battalion gaining a ‘sister’ Battalion comprised partly of Gallipoli veterans, and fresh recruits from Australia, with the intent being that the veterans would train up the replacements, imparting the lessons gained from the campaign.

In response to this, the 48th Battalion was raised on 16 March 1916 under Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Leane, and David Twining would join the “Joan of Arc Battalion” named such due to the number of the Lieutenant Colonel’s family would be within its ranks, prompting the quip that the 48th was “Made of all Leanes.”

On 2 June the 48th departed Egypt for the Western Front. Whilst the crossing to Marseilles was uneventful, conditions on board the ship were less than ideal with overcrowding and poor food both causing issues. David had, by this time, been promoted again to the rank of sergeant and he was soon to prove his worth as a strong and capable leader within the unit.

The 48th Battalion arrived in Albert on the Somme at the beginning of August, and they moved almost immediately into frontline trenches in preparation of an attack on the Pozieres as part of the second phase of Britain’s larger Somme Offensive, Australian troops had already participated in the capture of Fromelles the week before which was the debut of the Australian Imperial Force in the Western Front Campaign. The 48th was tasked with defending gains captured by the Australian 2nd Division. David was assigned as the sergeant of the 48th Battalions Scout Platoon and occupied positions beyond the front line.

As the capture of Pozieres was the only success of this phase of what would become the First Somme Offensive, it became the focus of intense German counterattacks and artillery barrages. In one of these, the 48th Battalion endured what is said to be the heaviest artillery barrage ever experienced by Australian troops, with just over half of the battalions 1000-man compliment becoming listed as casualties.

It was in one of these counter-attacks on the afternoon of 5 August David’s patrol leader was wounded, and David took charge, organising positions to be set up approximately 50 yards from the geographical location known as the Windmill, an elevation northeast of the town of Pozieres that dominated the surrounding countryside and was vital for the sighting of artillery for both sides.  

He organised patrols along the front between the windmill and the Bapaume Road and reconnoitred the mill. He remained in this position the whole time from the night of Aug 5/6 until about 10 am on 7 August. During a German counter-attack on the morning of 7 August, he was able to bring flanking fire on the attacking infantry and was instrumental in repelling an attack that had already overrun other Australian positions along the front, including a number of the 48th Battalions other outposts.

By about 10 am on August 7, David was the only unwounded man of the patrol. Back at Battalion Headquarters, Lieutenant-Colonel Leane, who had no idea his scouts were in such an isolated position, was astonished to receive a message by way of walking wounded soldier from David that stated, ‘…I am the only one left. Do you want me to hold the position?’ and immediately ordered him in, but afterwards returned in an attempt to bring in his wounded comrades, he was wounded himself.

In an interview David made after the way when asked about the defence of Pozieres, he stated. “After the first twelve hours, we took off our puttees and used them to bandage the wounded. By the end of 24 hours, most of us had our coats off and were trying to use them on the wounded.”

He was evacuated to the 4th General Hospital at Camiers, suffering a relatively minor wound to his left arm.

Because of the costly nature of the defence of Pozieres, and that more Australians were killed in the two days of fighting than in the entire of the Gallipoli Campaign, prompted Australia’s official War correspondent and historian to write that the site marked a ‘ridge more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other place on Earth.” And pushed the Australian Government to purchase the land where the windmill previously stood, this site would go on to become the site of numerous memorials, and it is from here that soil was collected for the interring of the Unknown Australian Soldier.

For his actions in the defence of the Windmill, David would receive a battlefield commission to 2nd Lieutenant, and cabled his mother. He had also been recommended for the Distinguished Conduct Medal, but this was inexplicably downgraded to a Military Medal. Charles Bean was so impressed by the young soldier’s conduct, that he later featured him in the setting of the Pozieres diorama that was commissioned for the Australian War Memorial.

Fortunately, the wound healed quickly, and, on 14 August, David was transferred to a Convalescent Camp. He re-joined his battalion in billets at Hérissart on 5 September. Where he would serve for a period as Battalion Intelligence Officer.

News of his Military Medal was received on 4 October when the 48th was at Ridge Wood near Voormezeele in Belgium. It was wet and miserable, but the battalion had a raid on the salient planned, so it was business as usual for David Twining.

When the battalion adjutant, another member of the Leane family, left on leave to England on 11 October, David was appointed acting adjutant in his stead. The following day he received his second “pip” when he was promoted to full lieutenant. At the time he was said to be the youngest officer in the 48th Battalion.

1917 was to prove a pivotal year for David Twining, one that saw him progress from his achievements at Pozieres to becoming one of the best officers in the 48th Battalion. His constant gallantry in the field saw him Mentioned in Despatches on several occasions. The recommendations bear reading in order to understand the nature of this remarkable young officer.

On 5 March 1917, he was mentioned, ‘…For consistent good work and devotion to duty ever since the Battalion has been formed. As Adjutant of the Battalion, he has proved of immense value, always at his post, hardworking and reliable. He sets a splendid example by his soldierly bearing and cheerful manner to all those who come in contact with him…’ This recommendation was submitted by his Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Raymond L. Leane DSO MC.

General Douglas Haig’s Despatch of 9 April made special mention of David Twining for his ‘great devotion to duty and consistent good work throughout recent operations.’ The MID also recommended him for his captaincy. This promotion became a reality on 10 July, after Captain Joseph Mayersbeth was killed in action at Messines on 12 June.

In sending home news of his MID to his mother, David also included a card. from Major-General Holmes, C.M.G., D.S.O., V.D., commanding the 4th Australian Division, which contained congratulations for his gallantry and devotion to duty during April 1916.

Lieutenant-Colonel Leane again recommended David for a MID on 20 September.

‘…For gallant conduct and consistent good work and devotion to duty during the past six months. Captain Twining is extremely loyal, energetic and tireless in his efforts to maintain a high standard of efficiency in the battalion. As Adjutant, he has proved very valuable, always at his post. He can be relied upon no matter how dangerous the conditions to carry out any tasks set him…’

This was seconded by Haig’s Despatch of 7 November for his ‘devotion to duty from 26 February to 20 September 1917. This was immediately followed by a further mention of work carried out during the period 23 September 1917 to the 25 February 1918.

Obviously, seeing so many young men being killed and mutilated around him had some bearing on David making the decision to gift the 1917 prize to the Dux of his old school in Ballarat.

During the spring of 1918, the 48th Battalion played a critical role in blocking the main road into Amiens when the Germans launched their last great offensive.

On 5 April 1918, the 48th Battalion was in action near Albert. As the men came under heavy attack, David briefly took command of a rifle company and repeatedly exposed himself to hostile fire as he supervised the movements ordered by battalion headquarters. When it became necessary for the men to withdraw, he coordinated the operation. Brigadier-General John Gellibrand, in recommending David for the Military Cross, noted that ‘his coolness in action was as conspicuous in this as in all previous actions of his battalion.’

For David Twining, the possibility of further military honours must have seemed unimportant alongside the painful task he had in writing to the families of men who had died alongside him that day

For his actions in the Albert sector, David received a special communique from the Corps Commander, General John Monash, for ‘gallant conduct displayed during the enemy attack…on April 5th 1918.’

In July, Clara Twining received word from her son that he had been awarded the French Croix-de-Guerre. He apparently made a particular reference to being ‘pleased for the sake of his old school that he has been awarded his decorations.’

Further heavy fighting near Proyart in August 1918, as a part of the Battle of Amiens, saw David once again in the very thick of it. When part of the assaulting line was held up by intense machine-gun fire, he led a party forward and worked around the flanks of the enemy-held position. His successful capture of the machine gun and several prisoners prevented further casualties for the 48th.

He was sent on leave to England on 3 September. Upon returning, he was detached for duty in an advisory capacity as an operations officer with the 107th New York Regiment, American Army on 24 September. The following day he received word that a second recommendation for the Military Cross had been awarded. The citation read:

‘For his indomitable courage and devotion to duty during the advance on Proyart on the 8th August 1918, Captain D. A. Twining MM, seeing a portion of the assaulting line held up by enemy machine-gun position still holding out in the final objective, went forward under the very heavy machine and rifle fire, reorganised the men and worked around the flanks of the enemy. He then rushed the post from the rear, capturing the gun and 7 of the enemy. This party of the enemy-held a very commanding position and was considerably hampering the troops on the flank. It was due to Captain Twining’s skill and fine example that a large number of casualties were avoided. Captain Twining’s work throughout the whole operation displayed untiring energy and utter disregard for personal safety. His example to the men assisted materially in maintaining their untiring energy and interest…’

The awarding of the Military Cross was confirmed by Major-General E. G. Sinclair-Maclagan, Commander of the 4th Australian Division. Sinclair-Maclagan then took it upon himself to send a card of congratulations to the young man’s mother, remarking especially on David’s ‘gallantry, coolness and valuable work when in action.’

When the 48th Battalion took part in the fight to seize the Hindenburg “outpost line” between 18 and 20 September, it was to be the unit’s last battle of the war.

David Twining returned to England in early 1919 to await repatriation to Australia. The 48th Battalion was disbanded on 31 March and David embarked home two weeks later as adjutant onboard the transport Commonwealth.

Returning to civilian life was probably always going to be difficult for a young man who had forged himself in the heat of battle. David certainly attempted to resume his pre-war career, but this only lasted a few months.

After his appointment with the AIF was terminated on 1 August 1919, David successfully passed the entrance examination for the Royal Military College, Duntroon. He entered the college as a thoroughly over-qualified ‘Special’ staff cadet.

Graduating as a lieutenant in 1921, David took his first appointment in the Citizen Forces as adjutant to the 6th Battalion (Melbourne City Regiment).

From professional to personal, David’s life seemed to be blossoming. On 20 February 1922, he married Phyllis Margaret “Madge” Wise.

The following year they welcomed their first child, Jessica Phyllis Clare. David continued his work with the Citizen Forces and, in April 1923, he was in charge of the detention camp at Broadmeadows for members who had neglected to perform the prescribed number of drills during the year, or had failed to attend the annual camp. He was categorised as firm buy fair and known for his cheery disposition and was generally well-liked.

In June, David was also appointed as Staff Captain of the 3rd Infantry Brigade in South Australia, resuming his association with his former battalion commander, Raymond Leane.

By November 1925, David had been promoted to brigade major. He was one of the youngest staff corps officers in South Australia, but his natural ability and perseverance resulted in him achieving well beyond his years. His concern for the welfare of his men was something that added to his popularity.

In September 1926, David was chosen to head to India on a two-year attachment to units of the British and Indian Armies.

After returning to Australia, David and Phyllis welcomed the arrival of their second child, John Raymond David, who was born at Elmhurst on 13 August 1928.

Continuing to pursue his military career, David returned once again to Keswick Barracks in South Australia, this time as adjutant to the 27th Battalion.

David’s position as a highly decorated officer afforded him a degree of respect in the veteran community. Visibly, he appeared to have come through the Great War largely unscathed. He certainly was known for his positive, cheerful personality, so what occurred at Keswick Barracks on 27 August 1931 re-mains something of a tragic mystery.

Events began to unfold in the early hours of 27 August. A fellow officer, Lieutenant Walter Parker, had been cycling home after a dance when he was struck by a car. Suffering from severe head injuries, Parker was not expected to survive. In attempting to locate David Twining to inform him of the situation, a watchman at the barracks went to the 27th Battalion office at the Drill Hall shortly after 9 am. There he discovered a man seated at his desk with a gas-ring turned on and an overcoat pulled over his head, David Twining was dead.

As in so many instances, there had been no outward issues or change in David’s behaviour or demeanour. It was mentioned that he had suffered from the effects of gas poisoning, but that in itself was not enough to push a man to take his life. With the absence of a note, we may never know the reason why he took his life, and it would be disrespectful to his memory to speculate.

Strangely, the coroner decided against holding an inquest. The cause of death was ultimately determined as ‘suicide’. He would leave behind his wife, a daughter and a son.

His burial at the West Terrace Cemetery in Adelaide was conducted with full military honours.

One of his pallbearers waws Lieutenant Colonel Harry Downes, his Commanding officer, and fellow 48th Battalion Veteran. He wrote an epitaph for the RSL newsletter Reveille. “For some people, the war ended in 1918/ but those of us who understand, the grim reaper is still taking his toll, just as surely as he did at Messines or Passchendaele. And to me, Don Ack Toc (Twining’s nickname) has gone to join his comrades of Gallipoli and Flanders ‘killed in action just as surely as if he had ‘stopped it’ in the strenuous days of 1914-18”

While we may never know why David Twining enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at such a young age, he may have believed that the Great War was an adventure too grand to miss, or he may have felt that he could never live down the shame of not going, but like for so many, the chances are that he went for no other reason than that he believed that it was his duty, and all the great deeds that he did in the War that was supposed to end all wars, was simply his job.

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“The Lone Survivor” Lt Col Vivian Bullwinkel AO, MBE, ARRC, ED (2/13AGH 2AIF) 16-FEBRUARY-1942

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Matron Vivian Bullwinkel

Today we have the story of arguably the most famous Australian nurse of the Second World War, Lieutenant Colonel Vivian Bullwinkel.

She was born 18 December 1915 in Kapunda, South Australia, her parents having migrated from England three years earlier.

Vivian completed her general nursing training at Broken Hill and District Hospital in Far Western New South Wales in 1938 at the age of 23 and completed her midwifery certification the following year. From there she moved to Hamilton Victoria to commence nursing.

In 1940 as the threat of war in the Pacific loomed, Vivian relocated to Melbourne to assist in the war effort, working at the Jesse McPherson Hospital. She was initially ineligible for overseas service as there was a requirement that all Australian military nurses have a minimum of 12 months of hospital experience and had to have completed both ward and surgical training before they could be accepted for military service.

In 1941, Vivian applied to join the Royal Australian Air Force Nursing Service but was rejected on medical grounds. She was then accepted into the Second Australian Imperial Force in May 1941 and commenced army training in Puckapunyal Victoria on the 9th of August 1941.

On 2 September, Vivian Bullwinkel was transferred to the Australian Army Nursing Service and assigned to the 2/13th Australian General Hospital as a Staff Nurse, bound for Malaya aboard the Australian Hospital Ship Wanganella.

At this time, as the war in Europe was looking bleak for the British, they had started to strip their overseas garrisons to reinforce the Home Islands, leaving the defence of these territories to Dominion Troops namely from Australia, India and Canada. The Dominions were autonomous communities within the British Empire who were essentially self-governing, and the British made extensive use of these forces in North Africa, the Middle East and the Pacific. In fact, Australia already had two Divisions, the 6th and 7th AIF in the desert, and a third, the 8th Division was raised at the same time of the raising of the 2/13th AGH, and would join them in Malaya, to serve alongside Indian and British forces.

There was already an Australian General Hospital in Malaya at the time, the 2/10th AGH and Staff Nurse Bullwinkel would regularly transfer between both hospitals between Singapore and Sumatra primarily treating the large number of tropical based afflictions. 

In October 1941, Bullwinkel would be based at Johor Bahru in Malaya and would stay there until December 1941 when the Japanese would commence their land invasion of the Malayan Peninsula.

Just a point of historical context, the Japanese launched their invasion of Malaya ten hours before their attack on Pearl Harbour, and simultaneously with the attacks on Hong Kong, Wake Island, Guam and the Philippines.

While the defenders of Malaya would try and stall the Japanese advance until hope reinforcements from either Britain or America arrived (they were never arriving) the strategic downside of Britain’s reliance on Dominion troops and the Allies policy of prioritising winning the war in Europe first disadvantaged the Australian, British and Indian troops as they were largely inexperienced, overall poorly led and under-supplied and equipped. Now this isn’t to discount the brave actions of the individual soldiers in the defence, they were simply facing a much more experienced, motivated and eager Japanese Force. Even the arrival of the Royal Navy Battleships HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, while a massive boon to morale could not halt the rapid and devastating Japanese advance, as they would be sunk on the 10th December, two days later.

Despite these setbacks, the Allies would fight valiantly but in January, the 2/13 AGH along with British and Dominion troops would be pushed back to the tiny island fortress of Singapore.

On the 12th February and the fall of Singapore a reality, it was decided that more than 300 predominately European civilians and wounded soldiers along with 65 nurses would be evacuated aboard the Royal Yacht of Sarawak SS Vyner Brooke . It is at this time that Sister Bullwinkel’s service record goes silent, as she will be officially listed as missing on the 16th February 1942 as the Garrison would surrender to the Japanese.

This is, however, not where her story ends. On Valentines Day 1942, Japanese aircraft would locate the Vyner Brooke and attack it with machine guns and bombs, sinking it, and forcing the survivors overboard.

Twelve nurses would be killed in the sinking, most would make it to life rafts or clinging to debris. Of those that survived, twenty-two nurses, including Staff Nurse Bullwinkel would wash ashore on Radji Beach on Bangka Island, in the Dutch East Indies, in what is now modern-day Indonesia, the remainder were ether lost at sea or went down with the ship.

They would be joined by approximately 100 other survivors, mainly wounded soldiers and civilians. While on the beach, they were joined by approximately 20 British soldiers from another sunk ship and the group assessed their options. After they determined their location, and discovered that it had fallen to the Japanese, it was decided that the survivors of the Vyner Brooke would surrender, and an officer of the ship set out to do that.

Most of the civilians also fled the beach for the island’s capital of Muntok, leaving the nurses to care for the wounded men.

By mid-morning, the ships officer returned with a party of Japanese soldiers to officiate the surrender. They ordered all the walking wounded to head inland under guard, leaving the nurses and the more critically wounded on the beach. The walking wounded would be lined up and gunned down by machine gun fire, some would attempt to flee into the sea, only to be cut down as well.

As the Japanese soldiers returned, it became clear what had happened, as the Japanese soldiers sat down in front of the nurses and cleaned the blood of their weapons.

The women, 22 nurses and one civilian, were ordered into the sea as a machine gun was set up on the shore. Once they were waist deep the Japanese opened fire on them, killing them all save for Vivian Bullwinkel. The last words heard before the shooting was from Matron Irene Drummond saying, “Chin up Girls, I’m proud and love you all.”

Sister Bullwinkel was struck once, high on the right hip and floated motionless amongst the surf, playing dead until the Japanese departed. She would then return to the beach and crawl to nearby bushland, where she passed out for several days until she was discovered by Private Patrick Kingsley, a wounded survivor of the massacre. Tending to their wounds, the two would encounter another survivor, Stoker Lloyd, both he and Private Kingsley had been part of the group led around the headlands and had survived the same way Bullwinkel had.

After twelve days, relying on the help of locals, it was decided that it was in their best interest to surrender, the three deciding to omit the fact that they where survivors of what is now called the Bangka Island Massacre.

For the next three and a half years, Sister Bullwinkel would move around Indonesian Prisoner of War Camps, until she was liberated in September 1945, she would be one of just 24 of 65 nurses of the Vyner Brooke to survive the war.

After a brief stay in hospital to recover from the effects of her captivity, Sister Bullwinkel, now a Lieutenant, as she was in absentia promoted in 1943, would continue to serve, now as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan until her resignation at the rank of Captain in 1947 to assume the post as Director of Nursing at the Fairfield Infectious Disease Hospital, a position she would hold until 1977. In 1947, she would also testify before the War Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo about what had happened.

She would also remain part of the Citizens Military Force, eventually retiring from the military at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1970.

After the war, Matron Bullwinkel continued to be active, and devoted her life to nursing, and honouring those who died in the Bangka Island Massacre, she also continued to raise funds for memorials dedicated to nurses, and served on several committees. Including being the first woman to be a member of the Council of the Australian War Memorial, as well as becoming the President of the Australian College of Nursing.

In 1975 during another major conflict, Matron Bullwinkel would once again work with the military as her hospital had been selected to receive orphans evacuated from the Vietnam War, and while she was 60, she organised and led a nursing team to Vietnam to oversee the Australian side of the operation.

Matron Bullwinkel, at 62, her nursing career over, married Colonel Francis West Statham in September 1977 and moved to Perth Western Australia. she would continue to remain active in her philanthropic roles, and in 1992, she would return to Bangka Island to unveil a monument to those who had been killed.

Throughout her life, Vivian Bullwinkel had well earned awards and commendations bestowed upon her, she was a recipient of the Florence Nightingale Medal, Associate Member of the Royal Red Cross, Member of the British Empire and an Officer of the Order of Australia. She would also have several portions of hospitals, care facilities, nursing residences, and sections of Military facilities named after her.

Vivian Bullwinkel died of a heart attack on the 3rd July 2000, aged 84. After her death, she would posthumously be inducted to the Victorian Honour Roll of Women, a Honour Roll recognising the achievements of women from Victoria. More recently with the 80th anniversary of the Bangka Island Massacre in 2022, the Australian College of Nursing, is currently raising funds for the construction of a bronze statue of Matron Bullwinkel to be placed on the grounds of the Australian War Memorial.

I can say with great certainty that as a people, we are truly proud of Matron Vivian Bullwinkel.

Sexual assault allegations

The official history of the Second World War, states that the survivors of the sinking of the Vyner Brooke were simply marched into the sea and were gunned down. this narrative has been accepted up until recently. Thanks in part to the investigations made by historian Lynette Silver, broadcaster Tess Lawrence and biographer Barbara Angell. Their investigation indicates that the nurses were raped before they were murdered by the Japanese.

Before I had even heard of this investigation, I already had my own questions about what had happened, after I first saw Vivian Bullwinkel’s uniform on display, which only grew after I saw was able to see the reverse side, following a recent 3d render of the uniform by the Australian War Memorial. By her own admission, she had been shot in the right upper hip, and her uniform bore the entry and exit wounds, but if you look at her uniform, you quickly notice that those bullet holes line up close to the middle of her abdomen, and if she had been struck clean through the stomach, she surely would have been incapacitated, or died of an infection, long before she made it back to shore. The only way that her wounds, and the bullet holes line up, is if her uniform was undone and open.

Sadly, it would seem that the reason why this part of the story isn’t public knowledge was because senior Australian military and political figures ordered Vivian to not talk about it, and expunged any reference to it, under the misguided pretence of protecting the image of these nurses from the stigma associated with being raped, something that was very much taboo back in the 40’s and 50’s, especially considering to be a nurse, you had to either be single or widowed.

There is also evidence of accounts of what had happened being tampered with, with accounts from nurses simply ending mid-sentence, and sections of the investigation from the Australian War Crimes Section simply missing suggest that they had been censored by military officials.

According to Vivian herself, she has gone on record to state that most of the nurses on Bangka Island were violated before they were murdered and wanted to say so at the war crimes tribunal in Tokyo but had been ordered not to by her superiors in the Australian Government.

Sadly, the perpetrators of this heinous act have now escaped any punishment for their crime.

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“The Souvenir King of the AIF” Private John “Barney” Hines (45Btn AIF) 27-SEPTEMBER-1917

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John Hines

John Hines, born Johannes Haym, was born in Liverpool, England on 11 October 1878 to German-Irish immigrants. Very little is known of his early life, save that at the age of 14, he saw Queen Victoria on her Jubilee Tour, and after seeing all the pomp and ceremony, left home to enlist in the British Army, only to have his mother protest for his return.

In 1895 Hines accepted the Queen’s Shilling and joined the King’s Liverpool Regiment, only to be deemed “non-Effective”. the following year he joined the Royal Navy, serving as a Stoker on the shore Installation HMS Victory II, He would go on to serve in the Boxer Rebellion and following a bought of malaria, he would be “discharged as objectionable”.

There is some inconsistency and discrepancies in his military service, with some accounts, including interviews with Hines himself on how long he was both in the Navy and Army. What is known is that he married Hannah Maher in 1899, and they would have two children together.

That same year, Hines would be working as a merchant mariner and travel to Capetown to join Discoll’s Scouts, a Reconnaissance Unit, then transferring to Kitchener’s Scouts, Kitchener’s Horse, Brabant’s Scouts, Remington’s Scouts and finally to the 1st Imperial Bushmen, an Australian Mounted Unit.

When the Imperial Bushmen returned to Australia in 1902, Hines followed them, and he promptly abandoned his family. What happened between 1902 and the outbreak of the First World War is a matter of conjecture, with his own accounts and official records placing him in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and ‘Every state of the United States of America. working various jobs and having several run-ins with the authorities.

In July 1915, Hines attempted to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force but was rejected on medical grounds. Not to be dissuaded, he would finally be accepted on 8 May 1916 and sent as reinforcements of the 45th Battalion.

As a soldier, Hines, according to his commanders, was a Tower of Strength to the 45th, while he was on the front line, out of it he caused a number of grey hairs for his superiors. For the men of the 45th, he was well regarded, even if they found some of his actions particularly erratic.

But as he was an effective soldier in the trenches, he was given a lot of liberties, preferring to go “Over the Top” with sandbags filled with Mills Bombs, a kind of hand grenade, instead of his Rifle and Bayonet, a weapon he would use with great efficiency. Considering how he was roughly the same height as Bull Allen, the thought of having a 5”10’ man charging at you throwing grenades at a whim is simply terrifying.

This efficiency would lend itself to the kind of warfare experienced by the Australians on the Western Front, with the German forces regularly employing Concrete pillboxes and bunkers to reinforce their positions. During the Battle of Messines, Hines came across a German pillbox, and while taunting the Germans failed to bring them out, he threw a number of grenades inside, killing some and taking others prisoner, allegedly including a General. In one of these encounters, he reportedly killed 63 German soldiers this kind of action led many experts to believe that he killed more Germans than any other person in the AIF. The other thing that Hines was good at, was looting, and it was something that undertook at every opportunity.

But it wasn’t solely German equipment he would take, though he would avail himself of wallets, rings, medals, pistols, watches, overcoats, off of any German he encountered, either dead, wounded or as a Prisoner of War. Furniture, alcohol, and currency were also fair game for the souvenir king.

Hines would be officially wounded twice, once at Messines and at Villers Bretonneux both in 1917, though he would claim to be wounded five times. It was also during 1917 During the battle of Polygon Wood, that Australian Official War Photographer Frank Hurley came across Hines sitting amongst his latest horde of trophies and took arguably his most famous photo. It shows a weary-looking Hines, in a German soldier’s cap, surrounded by artillery shells, links of Machine Gun Ammunition, ‘Potato Masher’ grenades, helmets rifles, canteens, personnel effects, and is counting a wad of captured francs and German marks.

This photograph would be widely circulated both in Australia and Europe and allegedly caused Kaiser Wilhelm to issue a bounty on Hines, though no actual evidence of this exists.

The ferocity he exhibited on the battlefield was mirrored by what can only be called appalling behaviour off it. He was court-martialled nine times for drunkenness, impeding police investigations, forging entries to his paybook and being absent without leave. Hines also claims that he was caught robbing the strongroom of the bank of Amiens, though this doesn’t appear on his service record.

As a result of this, despite being receiving a number of field promotions, he would be repeatedly demoted back to Private and fined a total of 168 days’ pay and spent weeks in detention. This need for cash has led some to believe that this was why he was so obsessively looting.

His service would finally come to an end in the middle of 1918, when he would be medically discharged due to haemorrhoid problems, returning to Australia in October 1918, along with all his trophies.

It should be noted that the Australia War Record Section was established in 1917 to facilitate the provisioning of relics and trophies for the establishment of an Australian War Museum, and there is zero record of Hines handing over any of his loot to the AWRS.

Even though he was back in Australia, he was unexpectedly severely traumatised by his experiences. You could make the argument that his erratic behaviour away from the front line was an early indicator for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. 

After the war, Hines lived in a humpy, a kind of temporary structure akin to a lean-to made of hessian sacks and saplings he built himself on the outskirts of Sydney near Mount Druitt as an unmarried loner, and he would adorn it with trophies. Especially the wire fence which he would hang German helmets he had taken from the battlefield.

Sadly, he was unable to find consistent work and lived on his Army Pension, and the occasional odd job he could get. He would also bolster his income by selling his souvenirs. Occasionally Frank Hurley’s photograph of him would resurface in an article or exhibit, returning him briefly to the public’s attention. Despite living in near poverty, he would travel to the Concorde Reparation Hospital each week to donate a suitcase of vegetables that he had grown for the former soldiers there. Charles Bean, First World War Official Historian and Founder of what would become the Australian War Memorial considered Hines to be a ‘celebrity’ and had him featured with 50 others in the RSL, short for Returned Services League publication Reveille in the ’20s and 30’s this attention would result in donations and increase to his pension. Hurley’s photo would eventually be prominently displayed at the Australian War Memorial’s permanent building in Australia’s Capital.

It should be noted, that when war broke out once again in 1939, the now 64-year-old Hines presented himself to the ANZAC Memorial in Hyde Park Sydney to sign up, this was at the same time when many were debating whether or not he was still alive. While he was understandably rejected on the grounds of his health and age, so dedicated was he to return to service, he stowed away on a transport, until he was discovered and hauled before Major General Arthur Allen, who happened to be his former 45th Battalion Commander. He was promptly informed that this was a young man’s war and shown the gangway.

On 29th January 1958, he died at the Concord Repatriation Hospital and was buried in Rookwood Cemetery in a pauper’s grave, which lay unmarked until 1971 when the Mount Druitt Subbranch of the RSL paid for a headstone. The Blacktown City Council would also rename the street he lived on in his honour. In 2002 Mt Druitt Council would commission a monument dedicated to him, and his photo would once again adorn the wall of the Australian War Memorial in 2014 as its First World War Gallery was undergoing redevelopment.

Much like Bull Allen, historians have argued that John Hines was worthy of some form of decoration for gallantry and bravery, solely based on his battlefield exploits. But it’s most likely his behaviour off the battlefield made him ineligible. He could have had great honours, potentially even the Victoria Cross, and could have had similar fame to the photo Hurley took of him, but his macabre hobby of looting German dead somehow tarnishes that image.

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“There and Back Again” Corporal Leslie Charles”Bull” Allen MM USS (D-2/5Btn 2AIF) 30-JULY-1943

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Corporal Leslie Charles “Bull” Allen MM SSM.

Leslie Charles Allen was born on 9 November 1916 at Ballarat, Eastern Victoria. The son of Clarence Walter Allen and Ruby Ethel nee-Robertson, aside from a sister Violet Allen, not much is known of any other siblings as he and Violet were sent to an orphanage at a young age following an upbringing marred by domestic violence brought on by the effects of the Great Depression. He would end up being fostered by an aunt, Mrs H L Allen, who had four sons: Percy, Herbert, Ronald and Albert, who like Leslie would serve with their father Mr Herbert Leslie Allen in the Second World War. From the age of twelve, Leslie worked as a labourer mostly on dairy farms around Ballarat to support his foster family and pay for his sister’s training as a Nurse at Bethesda Hospital in Richmond, Victoria.

He enlisted in the Second Australian Imperial Force on 19 April 1940 at the age of 21, giving his middle name as Clarence and his date of birth 9 September 1918 and joined D Company, 2/5th Battalion as a Stretcher Bearer and was sent to the Middle East. At 180 cm tall with broad shoulders he was “physically imposing” amongst the men of his company but well-liked due to his wicked sense of humour and sporting abilities. In fact, the only people of the 2/5th that may not have liked him were the officers where he showed ‘traditional larrikinism and disdain for authority. With his loud laugh and booming voice, colleagues in the Company would report that “You could hear him a mile off! Bull was thus one of the battalion’s most recognisable…and one of its most popular characters”. He gained his nickname “Bull” while on the sporting pitch, for charging down the opposition during battalion AFL matches like a “Bull in a China Shop”, which considering his stature would most definitely have been an imposing sight.

That sportsman’s stamina was easily transferred to the battlefield while on the Syrian Campaign when on the 10-11 July 1941 during the Battalion’s attack on Khalde, while under heavy shell fire. He worked through the night tending to the wounded men of his company, and the following morning, even though fatigued, walked 10 km to secure transport for them.

This prowess was not without a cost, as he was admitted to the hospital for ‘anxiety neurosis’ what we would now call PTSD around this time. He was, however, able to return to the battalion as the 2/5th was recalled to Ceylon now Sri Lanka in March 1942 before continuing to Australia in August that year for resupply and redeployment to Papua in October. On 17 December 1942, he contracted Malaria but was able to re-join his unit on the 22nd for the defence of Wau in January-February 1943.

It is in the defence of Wau the ‘legend’ of Bull Allen starts to appear, during an attack on Crystal Creek where he is credited in papers for carrying a wounded Australian Soldier ‘1000 yards’ in a ‘Superman effort’. Official accounts on the battle tell a slightly different but no less important feat of what became known as the Battle of the Slaughterhouse. On the 7th February, D Company 2/5th was attacking a Japanese machine gun position near Crystal Creek, when a platoon led by Lieutenant Taylor was pinned down in the open. With three wounded and two killed, including Lieutenant Taylor, Private Allen rushed out into the open and in the face of machine gunfire. Pulling one of the wounded Corporal Kelly over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry proceeded over 200 yards uphill to the company headquarters. While he was unwounded in his action, his uniform and haversack had several bullet holes from the constant machine gunfire. On the following day, 18 Platoon from the 2/5th was surrounded and ambushed by snipers. One member was killed and three more wounded. Bull once again moved forward and making three separate trips he was able to recover all three wounded men, two of which he dragged 30 yards to cover. During the course of these two engagements, Bull had been wounded four times, but none were severe enough to warrant him leaving his unit. For his actions in this battle, he was awarded the Military Medal and was promoted to Corporal. His citation read “Private Allen’s bearing and his untiring efforts in tending the wounded and helping with rations and stores were an inspiration.”

Following Crystal Creek, he was admitted to the hospital several times for exacerbation of malaria and spent most of early 1943 in and out of the hospital. Returning to his unit he participated in the battle of Mount Tambu in July 1943 as part of the larger Salamaua–Lae campaign.

On 16 July, Australia secured part of the southern slopes of Mount Tambu, in response the Japanese commenced a counterattack that night, but was repulsed with Australians suffering thirty-nine casualties including fourteen killed, The Japanese would suffer heavy casualties with approximately three hundred-fifty men wounded and killed in the eight attacks they attempted before dawn.

On 28 July American forces had landed, and the 1st Battalion 162nd Infantry Regiment was pushed into the attack and replaced the Australian forces on the 30th. Australian Mortar teams and Stretcher-bearers remained in the line to assist but did not actively participate. Owing to his experience in the jungle, Bull stayed on the line and this is where he becomes a folk hero.

Like the Australian’s, the American forces failed to secure the summit, and suffered fifty casualties to near-constant Japanese sniper, mortar and machine-gun fire in what Historian David Dexter described as “One of the most difficult and unpleasant areas ever to confront troops.” The land around Tambu is muddy, steep-sloped and under constant Japanese attack, in which two US Medics had been killed trying to bring the wounded to safety. Lance Copland a mortar operator who was present said in a 2016 interview that Allen was the last stretcher-bearer left to assist the 162nd.

At this point, Allen who was in the area as part of this residual Australian presence and probably exhibiting the same spirit he previously displayed at Khalde and Crystal Creek, voluntarily entered the battlespace alone and brought back a wounded American soldier, then went back out for another, then another. Each time he went back for another rescue attempt, soldiers would make bets on whether he would return.

Allen would complete this task several times, while official reports vary between ten and twelve Americans rescued, accounts from the field report up to seventeen American battle casualties were carried out to safety one by one on the back of a lone Australian from Ballarat before he collapsed from exhaustion. When he recovered, he had to be physically restrained from re-entering the battlefield. His hat and sleeves bore bullet holes from repeated machine gun grazes but he himself was relatively unharmed during the battle. It is during this battle that the most known photo of Allen was taken. A tall broad-shouldered Australian, steely eyes with a determined expression carrying the helpless body of a by comparison diminutive American soldier over his shoulder.

War Correspondent Gordon Short took the iconic image during one of Allen’s repeated trips back to friendly lines, this particular American had been knocked unconscious by a mortar bomb. Bill Carty, a cameraman who accompanied Gordon Short recalled a ‘gigantic man striding up Mount Tambu like he was on a Sunday jaunt’, describing Allen as ‘a huge man with obvious physical and emotional strength, perhaps borne of a difficult childhood’. 

When the 2/5th was rotated back to Queensland in December 1943 for training, the effects of these ‘superman’ efforts started to show. While he never showed fear on the battlefield, the war clearly affected him. Allen went absent without leave for eleven days, even to the point where a warrant for his arrest had been issued, then cancelled when he re-joined the unit. As punishment, he was docked 5 days’ pay. In January 1944, he had an altercation with an officer; he was court-martialled and demoted back to Private.

It was at this time that his health continued to deteriorate. With his malaria continuing to plague him and suffering from ‘constitutional temperamental instability’ another term for what is now considered Post Traumatic Distress. His military career came to an end, and he was discharged as medically unfit on 10 September.

The war did not end for Allen right away, as he spent six months recuperating at an uncle’s farm in Warrenheip, having lost the ability to speak. When he recovered he met and married Jean Elizabeth Floyd, a former army nurse, on 23 April 1949. One of the well-wishers to the happy couple would be Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of United States President Franklin D Roosevelt; the two would continue to correspond until the First Ladies’ death in 1962. The couple would have a daughter and three sons, with the daughter named in Eleanor’s honour.

This connection to the United States did not stop at the First Lady, with Allen repeatedly offered roles to appear in movies in Hollywood, depicting his actions and other historic deeds, which he would turn down. When news of his exploits started to reach the media, he met it with timidity. When asked, he would deflect attention to other Australian stretcher-bearers, or simply state “I was only doing my job.” Only doing his job would earn him the United States Silver Star, the third-highest medal for bravery in the US System, and the highest award that can be issued to a non-American. The citation read: For Gallantry in Action in Mount Tambu New Guinea on the 30th July 1943 during an attack on the enemy in which his own unit was not engaged, Corporal Allen voluntarily advanced through heavy enemy machine-gun fire to rescue American battle casualties without assistance he carried them from the field to safety no less than twelve soldiers. He collapsed from exhaustion only after all the wounded men had been rescued, he himself was wounded during the action. Corporal Allen’s gallantry evoked the unstinted praise of all who witnessed.

In civilian life, Allen didn’t talk about his exploits in New Guinea or North Africa, with his children having to find out about their father from others, particularly those re rescued.

Following the war, Allen worked as a labourer and as a theatre orderly at Ballarat Base Hospital. At home, he raised pigs and broke horses on an acreage outside Ballarat. In his later life, he would work at the recreation gold mining town of Sovereign Hill where he would demonstrate a horse-drawn Chilean mill used to crush quartz. Every ANZAC Day he would travel to Melbourne where he would carry the banner of the 2/5th Battalion.

Allen’s health would deteriorate even further, and for the remainder of his life he would be plagued by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and poor health, eventually dying on 11 May 1982 of a heart attack exacerbated by diabetes.  To commemorate his service, Puckapunyal Army Base in Victoria renamed their mess facilities the CPL LC Allen MM Canteen on 8 December 1979, making it the first piece of Army property named after someone who was not a Victoria Cross Recipient.

For someone who did not seek glory or fame for simply doing his job, he was considered a homegrown hero by the people of Ballarat who still fondly remember the tall gentle giant. On the 70th anniversary of the battle of Mount Tambu a documentary was released chronicling his service and calls for him to be invested with the Victoria Cross for his actions on that day. I personally believe that this claim is valid so believe there are several other stretcher-bearers throughout history’s military history or equally deserving Australia’s highest award for gallantry.

However, most people only know him by the photo taken by George Short very few know his story. However, that is not entirely true outside of Australia. In 2014 Swedish heavy metal band Sabaton dedicated the ballad of the bull in their Heroes album and on a state visit in 2019 the Australian Prime Minister gave a bronze statue of that same famous photo to the serving United States President as an enduring symbol of Australia and America’s ongoing alliance.

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Eastgrove Park Memorial Gates

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Private Hilton Lloyd Bell served in the Second World War and was born in Goulburn NSW in 1921.

He served in both the Citizens Military Forces and the Second Australian Imperial Force for sixteen months of which eight were on active service. He joined the AIF in November 1941 as part the 18th Field Ambulance before transferring to the 2/2 Field Ambulance on the 6 October 1942. He served in New Guinea as part of the 3rd Division without incident before his death of a Pontine Haemorrhage, a form of intracranial haemorrhage caused by chronic hypertension on 27 March 1943. He is buried in the Lae War Cemetery in Papua New Guinea and is commemorated on a plaque at the Eastgrove Park/Confoy Fields as well as on panel 86 within the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Second World War Roll of Honour. He was 21 years old

Private Michael Cosgrove served in the Second World War and was born in Goulburn NSW. He served in both the Citizens Military Forces and the Second Australian Imperial Force. He joined the AIF as part of the 2/3rd Australian Infantry Battalion and served in Papua and New Guinea as part of the 3rd Division. He was killed in action 18 October 1942 in Papua. He is buried in the Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery and is commemorated on a plaque at the Eastgrove Park/Confoy Fields as well as panel 64 within the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Second World War Roll of Honour. He was 22 years old.

Corporal Hubert George Stewart served in the Second World War and was born in Goulburn NSW in 1916. He joined the Second Australian Imperial Force in October 1939 as part of the 2/1st Australian Infantry Battalion, and saw service in Greece, Crete and Papua New Guinea including service on the Kokoda Trail. His service record lists a number of infractions of Absence without Leave, and fot drunkenness, but progressed up the ranks, reaching the rank of Corporal. Prior to his death, he trained at the First Australian Army Regimental Training School as a Section Commander for Machine Guns. He was killed in action 29 January 1945 in New Guinea. He is buried in the Lae War Cemetery in Papua New Guinea and is commemorated on a plaque at the Eastgrove Park/Confoy Fields as well as on panel 29 within the Commemorative Area at the Australian War Memorial, Second World War Roll of Honour. He was 28 years old.

Lest we Forget