Two of Sydney’s sons identified

For those of us at the Memorial who have been privileged enough to work with the Louis and Antoinette Thuillier collection, the level of public interest shown in the Remember me: the lost diggers of Vignacourt exhibition each time it visits a new city has always excited us. But the Sydney leg of the exhibition is particularly exciting. We know that several thousand New South Welshmen passed through Vignacourt during the course of the war, and the bulk of these would have been from Sydney. To date, we have identified only 12, and the exhibition’s stint at the State Library of New South Wales is our chance for more Sydneysiders to view this collection of photographs, and to perhaps put more names to faces.

This photograph of the 5th Australian Light Trench Mortar Battery (5th ALTMB) is a good example. Offering a glimpse of soldiers in their downtime, it has proved popular with visitors, and these men would almost certainly have been from New South Wales.

Previously, only one man in this photograph was identified: Captain Victor Esmond Douglas Crisp (standing, far right).

In the weeks leading up to the exhibition’s opening, investigations by curatorial staff at the Australian War Memorial have identified two more: 1655 Private Patrick Brady (back row, fourth from left), a tram conductor from Milson’s Point; and 517 Sergeant William Henry Crook (kneeling, far right), a boot clicker from Redfern.

Both were natives of Sydney, and both gave distinguished service.

At the battle of Mont St Quentin in August 1918 Patrick Brady’s mortar detachment came under German machine-gun fire, so Brady charged the machine-gun position alone. He must have cut a terrifying figure, because the German crew turned and fled, enabling him to capture the gun. His action undoubtedly saved many lives and allowed the advance to continue. For his bravery he was awarded the Military Medal.

On 20 September 1917, in the opening stages of the battle of Menin Road, William Crook supervised the operations of two mortars under heavy shell-fire. Throughout the fighting a German sniper had inflicted heavy casualties on the Australians. William Crook ventured alone into no man’s land and, in the impersonal language of military records, “dispatched” the sniper. For these actions he, too, was awarded the Military Medal.

These men were members of the 5th Brigade, which together with headquarters and four infantry battalions numbered in excess of 3,000 men. This entire formation, originating in New South Wales, was at rest at Vignacourt over the period of the Armistice in 1918. Many other New South Wales units had already passed through the village, and scores of these men must have visited the Thuilliers’ little studio.

If your family is from Sydney, come and visit the Remember me: the lost diggers of Vignacourt exhibition: perhaps one of your ancestors is among them.