Blog category - Personal Stories

Mike Coleridge, Australian Vietnam War photographer, 1933-2012

13 January 2012 by Ian Affleck. 8 Comments
News,Personal Stories

Michael (Mike) Coleridge will always be remembered for the photograph he took on 26 August 1967 of a group of soldiers of 5 Platoon, B Company, 7RAR, waiting for an Iroquois helicopter to land and take them back to Nui Dat at the end of Operation Ulmarra. This photograph has become an Australian icon of the Vietnam War and is graphically featured on the Vietnam National Memorial on ANZAC Parade in Canberra. But this is just one of 558 still photographs and 54 films taken in Vietnam by Mike Coleridge in the Australian War Memorial’s collection.

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Curating from Afghanistan : Collecting in Action, February 2011

14 November 2011 by Stephanie Boyle. 2 Comments
Collection,From the collection,New acquisitions,News,Personal Stories

As senior curator of Film and Sound at the Memorial, I was greatly privileged in February this year to go with the ADF to the Australia’s area of Middle Eastern Operations.   Not only did I meet with and interview an amazing range of ADF members based in or around Al Minhad, Kandahar, Tarin Kot and Kabul, but I found myself in the rare position of being a female civilian, totally immersed in the ADF’s world.   I trained with ADF.  I wore body armour.  I travelled by armoured convoy and by Hercules aircraft.  

I had meals in the food halls where everybody else ate – lining up outside to sterilise my hands - and slept in the same accommodation, sharing bathroom and laundry facilities.   Every day brought a hectic round of new names, acronyms, places, and protocols to remember;  every day was a day of early starts and late nights.  Some days were marked by fun (joining in Camp Baker’s Trivia Night) or frustration (repeated cancellation of flights), whilst other days were memorable for their sadness  – the loss of an Australian sapper the day we left Tarin Kot; attending, with a host of coalition force members,  a US ramp ceremony at Kandahar Airfield.  

There was nothing about this trip for which the standard day at the office could have prepared me.    

As one of a three person team of Memorial curators for the Collecting in Action program,  I  spent three weeks on  deployment, travelling across the Middle Eastern Area of Operations (MEAO). In keeping with the Memorial ‘s tradition of documenting Australians’ experience at war,   I recorded  interviews with  a wide cross section of the ADF  - men and women of  different ranks, performing different duties , in a range of locations on base and in the field. Their stories were fascinating and inspiring, providing a unique insight into the life and times of Australia’s current serving military.  The team also sought items to include in the Memorial’s collection, from photographs and personal cloth patches, to gear too big to bring back right away, such as vehicles.

This video compiles a small selection from the many hours recorded during my deployment.  The Memorial thanks all those who contributed their time to this program.

The ADF do their utmost to prepare you for travelling to a war zone. Along with a large cohort of ADF members, our team undertook a training course at Randwick Barracks. Full days of lectures covered topics as diverse as vaccination, how to speak to the media, and how to conduct oneself in the event of capture.  A month later we departed with the scheduled ADF sustainment flight to Australia’s Al Minhad base, where we undertook  a further four days of lecturers and training. This included being taught how to assemble and fire a rifle, how to identify explosive devices, to call in a medivac (evacuation by air), how to apply a tourniquet, and how to dress an open wound.  My wound dressing skills being somewhat more theoretical than actual, I quietly hoped no one would have to depend on my training in an emergency!

During the training period I met many people who were , like me , about to go “in country”, but unlike me, would stay on for many months past the date of my return to the comforts of  “civvy” life. They would continue to work the long hours,  in  harsh environmental conditions, which  characterise  Middle Eastern and Central Asian deployments.  These and other  ”pattern of life” matters were discussed by many of  my interviewees.  

My interviewees included troopers, snipers, members of mentoring task groups, medical staff, unmanned aerial vehicle operators, artillery trainers, ground support crew, engineers, a Chaplin, a legal officer, a Federal policeman and, offering a different perspective, an Afghan translator.    In every case, I asked them how they came to enlist, what brought them to their current situation, what their jobs entailed, what life is like on an Australian base.  What did they enjoy about life in the Forces, what was not so good? If they had any downtime, how did they spend it? And what is it like to work with other nationalities?

 

 People willingly shared their experiences, personal insights and thoughts for the future.  A nurse spoke of the bravery of an Afghan child who’d sustained horrific facial injury in a tractor incident.  A Lieutenant Colonel, remembering his earlier work the UN, described having to repatriate the bodies of UN personnel killed in the war between Hezbollah and Israel.   A postal operator, missing her own young family, told how amongst the inmates of Camp Baker she was known as the Morale Princess, for distributing precious news and gifts from home.  An experienced Warrant Officer described the importance of keeping people busy when sad events at home or at war tested their morale.  One interviewee showed me his publically displayed artworks, which, while allowing him artistic outlet, enlivened both his spare time and the walls of the base , pleasing ADF and coalition personnel alike.    A sniper described how his team narrowly avoided being taken out by an insurgent with a rocket propelled grenade launcher. A female officer told me about the respect shown her as a trainer, working with Afghan military.  Another interviewee described meeting his Canadian fiancée at a fitness class on base.

Some interviewees felt they might not have enough to tell, or suggested that they “weren’t interesting enough”.      The fact is everyone has a story to tell. Not only are their individual experiences interesting in their own right, but every single interview contributes a part to the whole story of Australia’s history.   In the years to come, their descendants will come to the Memorial seeking out their stories, just as the grandchildren and great grandchildren of our First and Second World War veterans are now looking for the records and recordings of their ancestors, which form the Memorial’s collections.    

The Memorial seeks to build its collection of film, photo and oral history with material from current and recently serving ADF members.  Please contact the Film and Sound section if you would like to help.

Remember remembering : Oral Histories of the First World War

09 November 2011 by Stephanie Boyle. 2 Comments
From the collection,News,Opinion, views and commentary,Personal Stories

Well, we got wind in the morning that the Armistice was either signed or about to be signed… And the word finally came through and of course there was great excitement… I was only sorry I hadn’t arrived there Armistice night because the chaps that got off the train, the girls just formed a ring around them.. and they wouldn’t let them out of the ring till they’d kissed every one of them.
- Former Corporal Ted Smout, a member of the 3rd Sanitation Section,  Australian Imperial Forces, 1915-1919 ( S03424)

Remembrance Day was once known as Armistice Day,  the day when World War I ended. It is a day to reflect on the losses incurred by the “Great War”, as it was known at the time. The Memorial holds many stories of the Great War; these are the oral histories of survivors, veterans who recorded their stories of the war years leading up to Armistice, and in some cases beyond.    These stories are a fascinating insight into the minds of a previous generation, revealing not only the history of how campaigns were fought – essential information for researchers -  but also the realities of war at the individual level, deeply personalising the Australian history of war. read on

A family’s love – Allan Henderson Hislop

14 October 2011 by Amanda Rebbeck. No comments
Collection,New acquisitions,Personal Stories

The Australian War Memorial’s Heraldry collection contains a number of commemorative badges and brooches which display a high level of beauty and craftsmanship combined with poignant individual stories. A recently donated brooch demonstrates these characteristics excellently.

This fifteen carat gold brooch was one of four privately made for the Hislop family in memory of their son and brother, Allan Henderson, who died of wounds on 18 October 1916 while a German prisoner of war.  

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Medals of a Rat

31 August 2011 by David Gist. 3 Comments
1941, Tobruk,Collection,Exhibitions,News,Personal Stories, Exhibition, Rats of Tobruk, Second World War

Visitors to the Memorial’s exhibition Rats of Tobruk 1941 will have noticed the unofficial Rats of Tobruk medal presented, according to its engraving, by Lord Haw Haw. Around twenty of these medals were made at Tobruk, which illustrates one of the earliest examples of the town’s defenders reclaiming the title ‘Rat’, bestowed on them by the propaganda radio program ‘Germany Calling’. Visitors may also notice the brasso caked around the small copper rat on this medal, the result of many years of cleaning. This perhaps gives an idea of the importance of this object in the life of its owner, John Joseph Murray, who commanded 20 Brigade at Tobruk. The care lavished on this object certainly accords with views expressed during Murray’s own lifetime about the pride he felt in having participated in this pivotal campaign. But this medal, while illustrating a highly significant period in Murray’s service career, does not give a full view of the breadth of his service. For a better appreciation of his distinguished career, we must turn to another set of objects, Murray’s medal group, which have recently gone on display in the Memorial’s Second World War gallery.

 

The medals of Major General J J Murray are impressive by anyone’s standards, and are the tangible result of a distinguished career which spanned thirty years and two wars. A native of Sydney, Murray had already served in the militia when he left Australia with the 5th Reinforcements to 1 Battalion in 1915. This unit had already participated in the first landings at ANZAC, and would remain at Gallipoli until the evacuation in December. Although his unit served at Gallipoli, his service record indicates that Murray did not. This anomaly may stem from the sectarian prejudices of his day, denying this Catholic officer the opportunity of frontline service.

With the doubling of the AIF in 1916, Murray was transferred to 53 Battalion and promoted to Temporary Captain. The battalion was subsequently sent to France, and its first major action on the Western Front was at the disastrous battle of Fromelles on 19 July. For his courage and leadership during this battle, Murray was awarded the Military Cross. In a similar vein to many award recommendations from that terrible day, Murray’s recommendation concludes, ‘[a]ll the other officers in his company were either killed or wounded.’

Murray’s unit participated in the advance that followed the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917, and defended gains made during the second battle of Bullecourt. Promoted to Major, his unit saw further service when the AIF’s focus shifted to the Ypres sector in Belgium, where he was Mentioned in Despatches toward the end of 1917.

The stalled German offensive in March 1918 prompted an allied counteroffensive, which saw 53 Battalion in action in the capture of Peronne, where Murray was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. His unit was withdrawn from the line at the start of October, and saw no further action in the First World War. After the armistice Murray was again Mentioned in Despatches for his leadership, and returned to Australia in 1919.

Murray resumed his duties in the militia, and after several command appointments and promotions, and the outbreak of a new war, joined the Second AIF in April 1940. He was appointed to command 20 Brigade, which embarked for the Middle East in October. In February 1941 the brigade transferred from 7 Division to 9 Division. Despite being poorly equipped, 9 Division were then sent to relieve 6 Division in Libya. At Er Regima, 20 Brigade were one of the first Australian formations to engage Rommel’s advancing Afrika Korps. The brigade successfully staged a fighting withdrawal to Tobruk, where they played an integral part in halting and eventually repelling the German advance on 14 April.

It was at Tobruk that Murray’s experience and leadership became wholly apparent. In his account of the campaign Tobruk 1941, Chester Wilmot described Murray as ‘…a big, genial Irishman who loves a fight. He is personally easy-going but brooks no slackness among his troops and even before Tobruk his brigade was marked out as one of the best-trained in the 2nd AIF. His dogged temperament made him well suited for the defensive tasks that lay ahead. He had shown himself a strong leader in the Great War when he won the DSO and MC and rose to be second-in-command of the 53rd Battalion.’

Overall command of Tobruk lay with Major General Leslie Morshead, whose defensive strategy was one of aggressive patrolling, summed up in his statement to Wilmot ‘I determined we should make no man’s land our land’.  Murray’s First World War experience of static warfare in the trenches of the Western Front was readily adapted to Morshead’s philosophy. It was these tactics that prevented the German and Italian forces from observing the allied defences and kept Tobruk’s besiegers in a constant state of tension.

A good example is the ‘V For Victory’ campaign of psychological warfare that was adopted by Murray’s 20 Brigade in the southern sector during July and August. Murray ordered leaflets stencilled with ‘V Per Vittorio’ and ordered that they be attached ‘by the use of clips, string, nails, pins, etc., to enemy bodies, posts wire, sandbags, sangars, etc., by patrols’. With monotonous regularity, the Italian forces in this sector found Murray’s leaflets in their own defences, left by Australian patrols that they had never heard.

For his leadership during this period, Murray was awarded a Bar to his DSO. He left Tobruk in November with most of his brigade, and was Mentioned in Despatches for the performance of his duties. He returned to Australia in January 1942 and was promoted to Major General. This period of Murray’s career saw several commands at Division level, and the command of Northern Territory Force from March 1945 until the expiration of his appointment with the Second AIF in January 1946 when he was placed on the Reserve of Officers.

In peacetime, Murray worked as Australian trade commissioner to New Zealand from 1946 to 1949, and then to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) from 1949, where health considerations saw him return to Australia. He died in Sydney in 1951.

The Australian War Memorial is proud to be able to display the medals of a soldier to the public whom he served with such distinction. They can be viewed as part of the Tobruk display in the Memorial’s Second World War gallery.

Further reading

For a detailed account of the entire Tobruk campaign, see Chester Wilmot’s Tobruk 1941.

For an insight into Murray’s own thoughts on this campaign, see his recently published account I Confess – A Memoir of the Siege of Tobruk.

Talmadge Johnson and USS Mugford

15 May 2011 by Dianne Rutherford. 4 Comments
From the collection,News,Personal Stories, AHS Centaur, Second World War, USS Mugford

 

The Australian War Memorial recently received a significant donation associated with an American sailor, Gunner’s Mate Talmadge Johnson, who served aboard USS Mugford, when she rescued the survivors from the sinking of AHS Centaur on 15 May 1943. read on

WWI letters & diaries at the Memorial.

18 April 2011 by Sue Jamesion. 4 Comments
Collection,Family history,News,Personal Stories, Commemoration, First World War, Private Records, WWI Centenary

With the Centenary of the Great War of 1914-1918 only a few years away, staff in the Research Centre at the Australian War Memorial are busily working on a variety of special projects aimed at supporting the Australian community’s commemoration of this momentous occasion. 

One such project involves the re-cataloguing and in-depth indexing of the Memorial’s remarkable Private Records collection from WWI.

The AWM holds over 5,000 personal records from the First World War, mainly letters and diaries written by Australian men and women on active service. While earlier cataloguing for these personal records provided an index of such things as the unit with which the collection’s maker served (e.g. 8th Light Horse Regiment), and the places in which he served (e.g. Gallipoli), the new standard of Private Records cataloguing involves far more detailed description.  Many more subject headings (like ‘mud’, ‘camels’, ‘prisoners of war’ and so on) have been added to the online catalogue record of individual collections, as well as biographical information about the collection’s ‘maker’ – information previously only available on a paper file.  To get an idea of what I mean, take a peek at 2DRL/0481 – (papers of Lt John Alexander Raws & Lt Robert Goldthorpe Raws, both of the 23rd Battalion, AIF.)

As a family historian myself, I feel the most exciting aspect of this project is identifying individuals named in letters and diaries.  I record the name of every person mentioned in each collection, even if the reference is only very brief.   This ensures these names are made ‘searchable’ on the Memorial’s online catalogue. 

It’s wonderful what these references can bring to light.  Take for example the case of 1120 Private Leonard Arthur Thomas Beggs of the 22^nd Battalion…from his official war service record, he would appear to have been less than a model soldier – but just look what his commanding officer had to say about him in a letter home from Gallipoli.

“[N]ot forgetting Beggs, a terrier of a chap, will do anything. Put up entanglements under fire, work…on sandbags at night, scout round for provisions for us at the beach, my word he’s the one to find the illicit canteens…He’s a real scout and will do anything to oblige us”. –
1DRL/0554 (papers of Captain Louis Carl Roth, MC, 2 Pioneer Battalion & formerly of 22 Infantry Battalion, AIF)

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Close Shaves

03 March 2011 by Andrew Currey. No comments
Collection,Collection Highlights,Family history,From the collection,Personal Stories

“I had a very close shave…”
(Pte C H Lester, 1 October 1917)

As many soldiers will testify, war can be as much about luck as it is about training and equipment. Luck can take many forms, such as being in the right place at the right time, and the closely related not being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The men listed below are a few examples of these places and the sometimes very short distance between them. read on

For Valentine’s Day – The airman who married the general’s daughter

14 February 2011 by Nicholas Schmidt. 4 Comments
ANZACS online,Collection,Collection Highlights,From the collection,News,Personal Stories

Recently, I have been working on the papers of Field Marshal the Lord Birdwood, the First World War British General who commanded the Australian Corps for much of the First World War (including at Gallipoli). Amongst the papers, donated by the Birdwood family in the 1960s, I have found a story I think is suitable for a Valentine’s Day blog entry.

My research is continuing but it was the romantic notion of ‘The airman who married the General’s daughter’ that caught my attention. It is the story of Constance ‘Nancy’ Birdwood, the eldest daughter of Birdwood, who married a Western Australian grazier, Colin Craig. Nancy was an Australian Red Cross nurse while Colin was an airman who flew for the Royal Flying Corp during the First World War.

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Christmas Dinner During War

23 December 2010 by Kathryn Hicks. 2 Comments
Collection,From the collection,News,Personal Stories, Christmas, Food, Menu

When we think of Christmas we think of presents, decorations and most importantly Christmas dinner. What was Christmas dinner like for those at war?

Private Charles Bennett (PR04245) writes in his letters home about the Christmas dinner he had in an English camp in 1916. He had: Turkey, Ham, Roast Potato, Peas, Parsnips, Xmas pudding, Café au Lait, apples, orange, bananas, saffron cakes, mince pies

Lieutenant Donald Armstrong (1DRL/0057) in Abassieh in a letter to his mother writes about the Christmas dinner he had in 1915: Roast Beef, Roast Mutton, Pickles, Sauce, Asparagus, Bread, Rolls and fish or meat paste, seven plum puddings, tinned pineapple and apricots, chocolates lollies, almonds, peanuts, brazil nuts, oranges and a bucket of cocoa. After which he has commented “I don’t want any more to eat for a week or so”

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