Please Note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds.

Group portrait of 25 unidentified members of a 1st Division field ambulance. C02182

‘The reinforcements for the 1^st contingent left Abbassia at about 10am and marched out to join their units at Mena, a distance of 15 miles and reached there about 5pm. We were all allotted to messes and tents. I was allotted to number 1 mess and number 1 tent.’

Note: Herbert volunteered to be reinforcement for 1^st Field Ambulance. In a letter home to his mother he expressed his sadness at having to leave his Victorian comrades behind and join up with a New South Wales contingent.

For the classroom: How would you feel having to leave the men you had trained with to join another unit?

Please Note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds.

An informal portrait of Lieutenant Colonel (Lt Col) Cyril Brudenell Bingham White and an unidentified officer riding camels in front of the Sphinx and Cheops Pyramid. P04340.005

‘News was received that 14 reinforcements* were wanted to join the First Field Ambulance, 13 for the 2^nd and 16 for the 3^rd. I went out to the Pyramid camp, went inside the Cheops pyramid and the 2^nd one, then round to the pyramid temple. The temple was the mortuary temple of the 2^nd pyramid of Khefren.’

 *Reinforcements were used to replace men who could no longer fight or were killed in action.

For the classroom: With the ANZACs still training in Egypt what could be the reason for needing reinforcements?

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds.

This pleasure resort was converted for use as an Australian Auxiliary Hospital after the commencement of the operations at the Dardanelles and continued to be so used well into 1916. C04085

‘Ralph Clark and myself went over to Luna Park* at Heliopolis and has such a good time, this place is not equal to the one at St. Kilda, but the prices are very much lower. They have a winter chute, scenic railway and other side shows, the place has been closed up for a time and has only been going since the troops arrived here.’

 *Luna Park at Heliopolis was used as an Auxiliary hospital from the landing in 1915.

For the classroom: What reasons might they have for converting this amusement park into a hospital? Would anyone still be using it after April 1915?

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds.

Elevated view of the tent and horse lines of the 9th Battery, 3rd Field Artillery Brigade (3FAB), as seen from the roof of the mess room. P00046.009

‘I went out to the pyramid camp at Mena with Ralph Clark and we had a good time, we had tea at the 2^nd Field Ambulance mess room with some friends of my mates. We got a donkey each and rode around the Sphinx, the price of the ride was 1 piaster each. It was pretty dark and we could not see much of the place, although the ride was a novel one. The little village near the road is very interesting, all the establishments have typical Australian names*.‘

 *The presence of the AIF had a great impact on the local landscape.

For the classroom:  Why would local businesses have ‘typical Australian names’?

The camp of the 2nd Training Battalion near Cairo. C00537

‘We have to look after the sanitary conditions* of the camp. I went into Heliopolis with another chap and got back just in time to fall in when an alarm was sounded at 9.30pm. Heliopolis is about 2 miles from where our camp was pitched.’

*Sanitary conditions of the camps were important as poor conditions could lead to an  outbreak of disease.

For the classroom: How could the spread of disease affect the ANZACs?

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds.

A general view of the 4th Australian Infantry Brigade tent and horse lines at Heliopolis, near Cairo. C02600

‘We marched to the 4^th Brigade camp at Heliopolis, and got our blankets from the 4^th Field Ambulance during the afternoon. The buildings here are splendid structures, the well-to-do people live here only, it is situated about 4 miles from Cairo and has an up to date electric railway and tramway service. Our rations are a bit short, but will be alright when we draw 6d* a day extra allowed each man for rations.’

 *d is the abbreviation for pence (penny). The average rate of pay for a soldier was 6 shillings per day (One shilling = 12 pence) this is higher than any other army at the time.

Detail of navigation map kept by William Gourlay, showing Nuremberg (PR04522)

The Australian War Memorial has recently received important documents relating to the Nuremberg bombing raid of 30-31 March 1944 and the iconic Lancaster bomber ‘G for George’.  Through a generous donation, the navigation log and map made by William Albert Gourlay, navigator on board ‘G for George’ for the fateful raid, have been added to the Private Records collection (PR04522).  These will complement our holdings relating to Bomber Command, and the Nuremberg raid in particular.

Detail from the navigation log of William Gourlay (PR04522)

read on

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds.

Courtyard, 14th Australian General Hospital, Abbassia By George Lambert ART02817

‘The Field Ambulance reinforcements for the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd disembarked at 9am and entrained for Cairo* at 9.30am. We arrived at Abbassia at 5pm and marched to the camp behind the barracks. We slept in a mess room for the night, but it was too cold to sleep comfortably, we had only a small blanket. All the Field Ambulance reinforcements were under the charge of Sgt, Baker. Our camp is about 4 miles from the city.’

 *Originally soldiers of the AIF were going to finish their training in England but after the bitter winter experienced by Canadian soldiers the men of the AIF were sent to Egypt to train in a more ‘suitable’ climate.

For the classroom: What other reasons might they have to send the troops to train in the Egyptian desert?

Please note: Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds.

Herbert embarked on the HMAT A35 Berrima at 12pm on the 22nd of December 1914 H16800

‘Arrived at Alexandria at 8am the harbour was full of wind jammers most of which are prizes. We pulled into the wharf at 2pm, the Light Horse Ambulance reinforcements went ashore and proceeded to the camp. No leave was granted, but I got ashore with a couple of other chaps and we went to the city, returning at about 1am. We got a cab man to drive us back to the wharf, could not see much of the place at night, visited a couple of music halls.*’

 *After so long on a ship the many soldiers looked forward to the excitement of Alexandria.  The men wanted to partake in recreational activities such as music halls.

For the classroom: If you were a soldier and spent a long period at sea how would you spend your first day in a new land?

This is the story of Herbert Vincent Reynolds No. 622 First Field Ambulance, First AIF.

Herbert Vincent Reynolds enlisted in the 1st AIF at the age of 18

Born in Sebastopol Victoria on 16^thSeptember 1896 Herbert attended Sebastopol State School until 1912 and obtained high marks for both the drawings and models he made.

Since the age of 14 Herbert was an army cadet and in 1914 when the war broke out he was called up for service. While on parade with the 8^th Infantry Battalion he was told by his commanding officer to “go home” as he was too young. Once home, he obtained a letter of consent from his mother and joined up with the 4^th Field Ambulance when it was formed.

The decision to go to war was a hard one for Herbert. From the age of 13 Herbert was responsible for providing for his Mother and siblings. Without his weekly income it would be hard for his family to survive without him. Nevertheless, the call to war was too strong and Herbert became one of the 421,809 men who would sign up for service during the First World War.

Over the next few months diary entries written by Herbert upon his arrival in Alexandria 1915 will be posted. They will cover Herbert’s experience in the lead up and duration of the Gallipoli campaign.

Care has been taken to transcribe these entries without alteration to preserve the original language of Herbert Vincent Reynolds.