Comments on: The flag on Anzac House by Joe Maxwell

By: cameron kirkpatrick

cameron kirkpatrick — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 10:53:47 +0000

My Great Uncle was killed at Zonnebeke i think but i have been told he was buried behind anzac house the exact location is not known…Do you know the exact posion of anzac house cause it would help in my efforts emensly..My Great Uncles Name was Samual KIrkpatrick he was a private and died on the 4th oct 1917.

Thanks roger

By: ROGER HALL

ROGER HALL — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:16:48 +0000

My grandfather Willam Ernest Hall was awarded a military medal for bravery at Anzac Ridge.I was wondering if you could tell me exactly where Anzac ridge is and if there are any pictures of it?
thanks Roger

By: Pauline Mitchell

Pauline Mitchell — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:05:15 +0000

My grandmother's cousin was in the 18th Battalion [1-13 Reinforcements, 5th Brigade} I wonder if he knew ANZAC House? His name was Private Sidney Lawrence Moore 3902 and he put his age up to enlist. He returned unscathed to Australia in 1920 and with the advent of WW2, he put his age back to enlist again. He was captured after the fall of Singapore and died on the Burma Railway just days before peace was declared. I found his photo on the AWM website and it was like meeting him after all my research. Such sacrifice.
Pauline

Editor's response: Thanks for your comment Pauline, I'm sure he would have seen Anzac House up close. From Passchendaele to Sandakan. A truly Australian odyssey worthy of remembrance. Craig Tibbitts Australian War Memorial

By: aaron maxwell

aaron maxwell — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:43:34 +0000

if someone has any stuff of his i would like to hear joe was my great great uncle and i am doin a assiment of him thanks..aaron

By: harry kline

harry kline — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:26:46 +0000

dear craig,
please have a read of… http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100447b.htm
at the end, is it true that joe maxwell _did not_ serve in ww2 ? If such a prestigious publication has it wrong, what a bloody dis-service to an amazing man. Many years ago thought an uncle mentioned a rather ribald story about him during training in england for ww 2, said he was a tru man’s man, knowing when to turn that ’switch’ on and knowing when to bury it. This was, he said, the janus gene which is in all of us, didn’t know what that meant as a kid, suppose a reflection of the two faces necessary to survive.

love your work
harry k

Editor’s response: Hi Harry, ADB says Maxwell was initially knocked back for WWII service because of his age (at least 43), but managed to join up later in QLD under a false name. He was apparently discovered and discharged. Wigmore’s book on VC winners ‘They dared mightily’, says much the same thing, except that he was given a position in a training battalion. So it seems he served in some capacity but for how long I don’t know. National Archives of Australia should have his personal service dossier if you were really keen to track down the real story. Of course that wouldn’t be easy to find if he was using a false identity and fibbing about his age. I reckon those best able to deal with the stress of life on the Western Front would have been the ones who could ’switch on’ when they needed to, and switch off, not dwell on things or think too deeply, and enjoy themselves when they were out of the line.

Cheers,
Craig.