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Archive for the ‘Personal Stories’ Category
Second Lieutenant F. T. D. Gulley, No. 6 (Training) Squadron, AFC
17 March 2008 by Amanda Rebbeck.
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Aircraft 1914 - 1918, Collection, Personal Stories, First World War, Heraldry, Private Records, Training
Crashes and fires were everyday hazards for the First World War flier. Second Lieutenant Frederick Gulley suffered both when trying to land his aircraft in England on 17 October 1918. Gulley was on a cross country flight and struck a post whilst attempting to land in a field close to Tidworth Barracks, Wiltshire. In the resulting fire Gulley’s clothes, harness, face and hands were burnt. He was taken to Tidworth Hospital with superficial burns to his face, neck and both hands, including all fingers.
A piece of Second Lieutenant Gulley’s seat harness after his aircraft crashed in England on 17 October 1918. NB the burn marks from the fire are still visible. REL/15078
How an overnight storm threw up a relic of our first VC winner
05 March 2008 by Craig Berelle.
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Collection, From the collection, Personal Stories, First World War
It was 10 March 1919, and readers of the London Daily Mail were asked to help solve a wartime puzzle.
Appearing on page three, the appeal read “A newspaper correspondent, who has sent his address to the Editor of the Daily Mail, seeks a claimant for a Red Cross armlet, which he says he found in November 1915 on beach at ANZAC Bay, and which is marked: R. Howse, Col. : A.D.M.S., Australian Division.”
More than just a lifeboat
25 February 2008 by Emma Jones.
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Family history, From the collection, News, Personal Stories, Australian War Memorial, Collection, Devanha, Gallipoli
The three generations: Christine, Natasha and six month old Rose Devanha beside the nameplate on the now one hundred and three year old Devanha lifeboat.
Recent visitors to the AWM Treloar Conservation Annex at Mitchell, ACT, introduced through Richard Cruise, Acting Visitor Services Manager, reinforced the sometimes incredible connections that descendants of service personnel have with the relics in the collection.
Arthur Cecil Claude James embarked for Australia in 1914 to visit his elder married sister in Melbourne. He decided to enlist in the Australian Army in January 1915, was posted to Gallipoli, and sailed on HMAT Wiltshire in April of that year.
Arthur suffered various health problems while serving on Gallipoli and his ‘death’ was reported in the Melbourne Age, the article saying ‘he died with a smile on his face’. The family still has the original newspaper cutting. read on
Love letters
22 February 2008 by Emma Jones.
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Personal Stories
As valentine’s day was only last week, I thought some would like a glimpse at one of the love letters we hold in our Private Records collection. Lieutenant Colin Douglas Simper of the 2/48 Australian Infantry Battalion met Irene at a dance in South Australian and were married at short notice at her family home in Blackwood on 12 December 1941. Often posted away, Colin regularly wrote to his wife, pouring his emotions, feelings, hopes and fears into his letters.
PR01164 PR01164
He was posted overseas to Tarakan in April 1945 and in June was injured and later died of his wounds. His collection of letters to Irene, along with other items such as photographs, a sweetheart brooch and a horseshoe charm Irene carried on her wedding day, were donated to the Memorial. Although this story has a sad ending, the themes of love, longing and hope are echoed in other collections of letters held by the Memorial, covering conflicts from the First World War to modern day.
No wedding glamour for Clarice
19 February 2008 by Janette Condon.
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Collection, From the collection, Personal Stories, First World War
Mention is sometimes made of personal events in the war diaries of the first Australian Imperial Force (AIF), currently being digitised by the Research Centre. Of all the activities of members of the First Light Horse Brigade at Gallipoli, one of the more unusual was the wedding of Sergeant Ernest Alfred Lawrence to his bride Clarice Jessie Daley on 21 October 1915 on the Greek island of Lemnos.
Clarice and Ernest leaving the tent in which they were married through an arch of drawn bayonets. P01360.001
Colditz Collection
30 January 2008 by Nick Fletcher.
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New acquisitions, News, Personal Stories
Escape maps, medals and military insignia from an infamous German prisoner of war camp are among the latest additions to the Australian War Memorial’s collection.
Medals and photographs from Lieutenant JR Jack Millet’s Colditz collection
The items belonged to WA-born Lieutenant JR ‘Jack’ Millet who enlisted in 1940 with 2/11 Infantry Battalion. He served in the Middle East before being captured by the Germans on Crete in May 1941.
After several escape attempts, Millet was sent to Oflag IV-C, the ‘escape-proof’ high security prisoner of war camp for officers popularly known as ‘Colditz’.
Millet was famed for producing high quality escape maps, essential documents for allied prisoners trying to escape from occupied Europe. He was one of approximately 20 Australians interned at Colditz. The last survivor of that group, he died in Perth in 1999. read on
Experiences of a Prisoner of War in Turkey - Capture
27 November 2007 by Amanda Rebbeck.
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Aircraft 1914 - 1918, Personal Stories, Aerial Operations, Private Records
Lieutenant A R Brown (left) and Lieutenant G Finlay (right) in a Bristol Fighter. B02078
On 27 June 1918 two Bristol F2B Fighters from No. 1 Squadron AFC, A7236 and B1149, took off on a reconnaissance mission over Kitrine. The two aircraft were piloted by Temporary Captain A. R. Brown/ Lieutenant G Finlay and Lieutenants G. V. Oxenham/L. H. Smith respectively. By the end of the mission Lieutenant Smith had been made a Prisoner of War.
