Thread: Anzac Day

My paternal grandfather, Henry, came over from Fiji with a bunch of other ex-pats and formed part of the 26th Reinforcements. He sailed to England on the Willochra in June 1917, marched into Sling Camp in early August, spent nearly two months there during which time he was a drummer in the camp band. Early October he went over to France and into Etaples Camp. A few days there and then joined 6 Hauraki in the field at Passendale. 2 weeks later, on the 17th October 2017, wounded in action. His records read "GSW chest, r leg, O/W r knee, r arm, GSW thigh, knee, neck r + l (helpless)". He was pretty smashed up but managed to survive long enough to be shipped out to England and admitted to a hospital in Birmingham. He was there for over a year, finally coming back on the SS Matatua in Jun 1919. He went back to Fiji eventually, and married one of the nurses whom had cared for him in England after inviting her to join him. They are both buried in Suva. I only met them once, when I was very young, in the 1960's.

My maternal grandfather served in the 2/1 Pioneers of the Australian Infantry in WW2 seeing service in Egypt and the Pacific. He walked and crawled the Kokoda trail in PNG twice. He eventually became the RSM and is the main reason I decided to serve myself. His discipline and integrity was inspiring.

I'll be dipping the flag in the Albany Hall tomorrow. We will remember them.