Tobruk Memorial

Monsignor Steele who took this Kodachrome film attended the ceremony of the unveiling of the Tobruk Memorial as a member of the War Graves delegation. Monsignor Steele was an Australian Army chaplain in Tobruk. Monsignor Steele's film description follows: " Tobruk opens with pictures of notices, one in English and German and the other concerned the children's school. I took them because there were no German notices and no children in the Tobruk we knew. Then comes the old distillery in ruins and views of Tobruk with various wrecks in the foreground. Flocks of camels and goats and well fed horses browsing on good herbage were something we did not see in Tobruk. The shots at the unveiling would have been perfect if the English M.O. who operated my camera had been a bit slower on the draw. He missed Sir Leslie laying a wreath because he had to attend to one of the guard who had fainted. The pock marked walls belong to the buildings in the dock area. German POWs made a good job of repairs to Navy House. The chaplain on the path is Father Harry Leonard of Benghazi accompanied by a German POW chaplain Father Bruno Amann the latter was captivated by Sir Leslie's gracious affability. There is a picture of Sollum, the two passes can be seen, Hailfays to the left, Sollum on the headland to the right. The immense graveyard of tanks includes all models ours and theirs. Near Daba there are a few shots of the desert and of the wreckage that litters the desert from Tobruk to Alamein. The view of Tobruk cemetery was a fairly good one. There is a view of the POW cemetery at Tel-el-Eisa. There is a dome on the hill behind the cemetery. Last of all is the cemetery at Alamein, the Union Jack floats proudly in the breeze above the graves of seven hundred men who gave their lives to safeguard the freedom that goes with the flag."