| Accession Number | P04325.001 |
|---|---|
| Collection type | Photograph |
| Object type | Black & white - Print silver gelatin |
| Maker |
Unknown |
| Date made | c 1944 |
| Conflict |
Second World War, 1939-1945 |
| Copyright |
Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain
|
Studio portrait of VX5519 Captain (Capt) James McCaig Menzies, 2/7 Battalion, of Dorog, Vic ...
Description
Studio portrait of VX5519 Captain (Capt) James McCaig Menzies, 2/7 Battalion, of Dorog, Vic (originally of Scotland). Menzies enlisted in Hawthorn on 30 October 1939 and was drafted to the 2/7th Battalion at Puckapunyal, Vic, where he was made sergeant of the Intelligence section. After attending officer training school in Seymour, Menzies was commissioned as a Lieutenant, and on 15 September 1940 embarked from Melbourne for the Middle East. After training in Egypt, Lt Menzies's reinforcement unit went into action against the Italian Army at Bardia, Tobruk and Bengazi. He was later appointed to Brigade Headquarters (HQ) as a Liasion Officer and undertook training in Cairo, narrowly avoiding deployment to Greece, where his entire unit became prisoners of war during the Crete campaign. Lt Menzies worked at the Brigade HQ in Lebanon, and after the Armistice, as a Liasion Officer between the French Army and the Australian Army. Later promoted to Captain, Menzies returned to Australia at the end of 1942, and was placed in charge of a Brigade Advance Party. Whilst the brigade was undergoing jungle training in Papua New Guinea, he was wounded in the knee in February 1943 and flown to the 115th Australian General Hospital at Heidelberg, Vic. During his stay at the hospital, Captain (Capt) Menzies became friendly with the Sister who nursed him, VX65911 Lieutenant (Lt) Kathleen Cardew Gardner, of Melbourne, Vic, and they announced their engagement on 14 May 1943, the date of Capt Menzies birthday and also the day the Centaur, a hospital ship, was sunk off the Queensland coast by a Japanese submarine, killing many of Sister Gardner's friends. The couple were married in Hawthorn on 26 June 1943. Capt Menzies continued to work for the Army, first at Security Services and later with the Operational Research Section at Albert Park Barracks, until his discharge on 29 May 1944.